The Heat in the Mercury
by asc12
Summary: Temperatures aren't the only thing soaring as Booth & Sweets struggle to repair their frienship after Booth tried to kill Sweets. The investigation to a set of bones, a baby left in a hot car, and a shwerd psychic leave one of the team in a position a little too hot to recover from.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Bones._

_I also spent some time fixing some old stories where chapters were uploaded to the wrong story. The Sequel to the Story should make more sense now…_

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**This will somewhat follow The Image in the Tierney but if you haven't read that (shame on you!) then I'll bring you up to speed so you can still enjoy this one. (Though you really should real all my stories and when I'm famous I'll buy you a Coke!) Well, I'm a little fussy today aren't I? Okay, so "in our previous episode" Booth tries to kill Sweets in order to protect him but of course Sweets didn't know that at the time and just figured Booth was trying to kill him when he hit him in the head with a shovel a few times and locked him in a box. Like you do! So when Sweets finds out the truth he understands and Booth feels bad, but it's left some tension between the two men. The fact that Sweets was kept in a box has dug up some old memories of traumatic childhood experiences of being beaten & locked in a closet. Instead of facing these issues Sweets has decided to repress them and ignore his own psychological advice to do otherwise. So here we are!**

**(By the way, I had thought of doing a story where Sweets sort of goes head to head or work with Patrick Jane of the Mentalist since that would be an interesting match but I don't know how many people are familiar with that show and I haven't seen it in a while so I don't know if I could do it justice. But still Sweets going up with a mean spirited psychic seemed interesting so here we go!)**

**Spoiler alert: I don't own the TV show Bones. If I did, based on my budget, the actors would be very upset with their salaries.**

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1.

The Heat in the Mercury

"Where at again?" Sweets asked walking thru the parking lot as the hot sun beat down around him.

"Geez Sweets aren't you listening?" Booth asked annoyed but then regretted having done so. It had been a few weeks since the psychologist's head injury, which didn't bother Booth as much as the fact that he was the one who had caused it. Sweets had been getting along just fine physically since the incident but everyone noticed the tension that remained between the two men. They followed Gordon Wyatt's advice that it would take time for that relationship to heal, because it's not every day your friend and part-time partner-in-crime-solving tries to kill you with a shovel and lock you in a box. Sweets was still attempting to get over that particular aspect of the incident as well - being locked in the small space, and reasons he absolutely refused to bring up to anyone, including himself.

"Sorry Sweets, I didn't mean…" Booth began but Sweets had already started talking.

"Yeah sorry it's like 100 degrees out here." Sweets said wishing he had opted for a light gray suit instead of the black one. The heat bearing down from the sun combined with the humidity made even the simplest task of walking and talking difficult.

"It's actually 107." Booth corrected him.

"Yeah, so where's the crime scene…" Sweets said and stopped again. Booth was almost concerned why the psychologist was having such a time until he continued again. "Do you hear that?" Sweets paused again. "What is that? It's like a cat fighting or something. But in the Hoover parking? What….Oh my God." Sweets voice dropped dramatically and Booth became concerned as he could hear Sweets leather soled shoes hitting the pavement as he ran.

"Sweets, what's going on?"

"Booth, there's a baby in the car!" Sweets shouted and looked around, he was alone in the parking lot. Sweets pulled on the door which was locked. "Shit! How do I get it open?" He said perhaps to himself and perhaps to Booth, he was open to fielding any options. In this heat he had to get it open…and fast.

"Sweets, I'm calling for help."

Sweets heard the noise from the phone and tried to bang it on the window but it did nothing. He had no slim Jim or key picking devices nor the time to get one.

"So, Sweets, stay on the line. But you need to get the baby out, is there something to break the window with?" Booth suggested.

Sweets looked around at a lot full of cars. His was at the far end but it would take him a long time to get there and back, too long. He jabbed his elbow into the window several times but besides earning a sore spot that would likely bruise it did little else. The baby was slowly stopping its crying.

"Oh no…no, no, no." Sweets said looking at the small infant inside, strapped into the rear facing seat. He felt helpless though only a thin sheet of glass separated them. Sweets backed up wondering if he could break the window with his feet but in a quick glance saw the car next to it had a window down an inch. Sweets stuck his fingers thru the gap and pushed the window down, unconcerned for the car's now ruined window motor. He removed the headrest from the seat and with the pointed metal ends stuck them in the ridge of the bottom of the driver's side window. He pulled the headrest back towards him. The glass punctured and then fractured and Sweets was glad he spent too much time watching the Learning Channel home alone at night on what to do when you're trapped in a sinking car.

He threw the headrest aside and reached in the broken driver's side window to press unlock and quickly opened the back door. He could tell the baby, wrapped in pink was still breathing but the heat of the car was suffocating. The car seat's arm was in the air and Sweets had difficulty between the heat, the panic and the seat design to remove the child. He could hear sounds coming from his pocket.

"Sweets!? Sweets did you get the baby?" Booth shouted, he could hear the shattering of the glass and was hopefully. Sweets picked up the phone.

"Yeah but how the hell do I get her out of the seat?" Sweets asked, his hands jittery and wanting to remove the baby though more air was now at least flowing in.

Booth imagined back to Christine's baby seat in order to instruct Sweets. "On the big arms, there's two releases, probably in red." Booth paused and could hear the 'click' of the arm going in place. "Okay, there's a harness strap across the chest, press in and release that one and another one at the bottom."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it!" Sweets said with relief. He dropped the phone as he took the baby, only a few months old from the seat. Booth was filled with relief as he quickly left the crime scene having assigned it to another agent as he left.

* * *

Booth pulled up to the scene fifteen minutes later and found a mass of emergency responders. He quickly made his way past the onlookers and police tape and entered the area. The sun had kept some people away but others were far too curious and tried to ignore the heat.

Booth spotted Sweets as he sat in the back of the ambulance with its open doors and held the baby in his arms. He was nodding as the paramedic spoke and Booth noticed Sweets held the baby tightly. Booth thought of Christine and how he never thought twice of leaving his most valued loved one with Sweets at any time. He wasn't just a free babysitter all those times, he was someone Booth trusted and then, like now, he knew Sweets would do what it took to ensure the safety of someone.

"Agent Booth?" A young agent named Riley asked approaching him upon him seconds after his arrival. "Are you going to be lead on this case?"

Booth was a little confused, he was sure someone was going to be prosecuted for leaving the child behind but that could be left up to the local authorities.

"We have an ID on the car sir. Jon Smith." Agent Riley told Booth and immediately the hairs on his neck stood, that seemed a little suspicious. "The plate suggests the car is stolen but it doesn't match this car and the vehicle identification number has been removed."

Booth knew the suspicion was mounting, _who leaves a baby in a hot stolen and retagged car?_

"Is the baby okay?" Booth asked eying Sweets holding the child again, slightly more relaxed this time.

"Yeah, Dr. Sweets got her out just in time." Riley answered.

"Good. Any ID yet?" Booth asked.

"No but I haven't finished yet sir, there's a bit more." Riley said moving to the back of the vehicle. Riley opened the trunk.

"Well I'm guessing that's been there a while." Booth said gazing down at the skeletal remains that were in the trunk. "And now we have a case."

Booth backed up and pulled out his phone.

"Who are you calling sir?" Riley asked.

Booth smiled at the young kid who must be new. "Dr. Temperance Brennan, brilliant anthropologist for the Jeffersonian, and consequentially, my wife."

* * *

"Agent Booth." Cam said looking up from the examination table.

"Hey Cam, you guys get an ID yet?" Booth asked anxiously as he looked over the remains on the table.

"No, not yet. The remains are female, early thirties, Caucasian." Cam explained.

"Could she be the mother?" Booth asked.

"Well the bones suggest that she has not given birth thru natural child birth but that doesn't rule out cesarean." Cam explained.

She watched as Booth nodded his head, taking in the facts. "How is the baby, and Dr. Sweets?" It was obvious to all the tension that existed between the two men but they continued to work professionally together.

"Good." Booth said as Brennan approached the platform and nodded to her. "He took the baby to a social worker who will place her in a foster home. He went there to check out the foster home."

"Is that protocol?" Cam asked confused.

"I believe that Dr. Sweets has reservations with foster homes." Brennan said. "I would agree with his actions."

Booth smiled that while she and Sweets hardly agreed on psychology and its place in crime solving, or its very existence, they did however have an unspoken agreement on the horrors of the foster care system. He felt badly for them both, for himself and the childhoods they all had, though strove to make different for those they came in contact with, like this baby.

Cam noticed the solemn reflective expressions on both Brennan & Booth's faces and while it interested her, she chose not to implore more.

"I've got it!" Angela announced while approaching them, paper raised in her hand thru the air like torch. She stood with them on the platform and began to read. "The facial reconstruction got a hit. Isabella Karaet, 32."

"How come she didn't pop up in missing persons?" Booth asked.

"Yes, I would say the decay here is over a week old." Cam said.

"Might have to ask her husband, Phillip Karaet." Angela suggested. "And yes, the baby is hers, Anna Karaet, born six months ago."

"Do we have cause of death?" Booth asked.

"No, I'm working on that now." Brennan said stepping forward towards the remains.

"Well I'll go and question the husband." Booth said turning to leave.

"You might want to take Sweets with you." Angela suggested causing Booth to pause.

Booth wondered if this was another attempt to get them to spend time together, move past the whole 'almost killing him' thing.

"Phillip Karaet is a noted psychic." Angela added with a smile.

_Great. _Booth said to himself. _Yep, definitely taking Sweets._

* * *

The temperature was over a hundred but it was feeling a bit icy in the SUV. Booth cleared his throat.

"So the baby, uh, Anna, you got her to the foster home, it checked out okay?" Booth asked hoping to start a conversation that might include something other than a profile or a corpse.

"Yeah, it went fine." Sweets said looking out the window. He hadn't been out in the field with Booth for a while. The call this morning would have involved him meeting him there but the baby in the car changed that. Now he was back, having to face time alone with Booth again. He wondered if it were engineered by another one of the team or if it were fate. _Oh fate _he laughed to himself. _Probably something this so called psychic would play on pretty heavily. _He had a distaste for psychics, probably the same way Brennan had a distaste for psychology. The thought soured in his mind.

"Well I'm glad you checked the place out." Booth said trying to elongate the conversation.

"Of course!" Sweets said sharply. Rationally he knew Booth was trying to start a conversation but Sweets was busy thinking how to handle the clairvoyant and also repress angry feelings about the view of his profession by his peers. Unfortunately Booth would bear the brunt of his mood at the moment. Booth wasn't pleased.

"Well I think it's a good thing is all." Booth said narrowing his eyes at the young doctor but instead he opted for tact. "Bones, she was glad you did too."

"Well aren't I glad that Dr. Brennan finally approves of the things that I do." Sweets said sarcastically. He could tell Booth wasn't going to give up on a conversation so he changed the subject to the one thing he knew they were comfortable with and could handle discussing- cases.

"So this guy, what did you say his name was?" Sweets asked. He was sure he knew the name but it made for a good segway.

Booth welcomed it. "Phillip Karaet. He didn't report his wife missing and as of yet hasn't even questioned where his baby is."

"Hopefully the child can stay with foster care until he proves he can take care of the baby." Sweets said thinking about the innocent child he held.

"He seems pretty into his career." Booth said taking the next left. "He's performing on whatever he wants to call it at the Liberty Theater. I figured he would be more than happy to have us drop in." Booth added sarcastically.

"I'm sure he will. These types are all ridiculous." Sweets said thinking of Karaet and his 'profession.' "They prey on people for their money and then with false hopes and unrealistic expectations they come to realize it too late."

"Well sure." Booth said. He was glad a conversation was going. "Hopefully we can find something to at least make the guy look bad."

Sweets laughed and Booth asked why. "Oh, I was just thinking that Dr. Brennan would equate me to being the same charlatan. Taking people's money and giving them false hopes in return."

"No, you know that's not true, you help people because you want to and besides you don't charge." Booth rationalized.

"If I had a private practice it would be the same." Sweets thought of the parallels.

"You have an honest intention to help people, it's different."

"Maybe." Sweets mulled it over, maybe he was really just a charlatan in sheep's clothing. "Anyway, I'll guess we'll find out what his intentions are. Looks like we're here."


	2. Chapter 2

_Okay so I had forgot that they did had Cyndi Lauper on there and I think that Sweets was actually supportive of her. Which I think is kind of strange, I would think that with a birth mom who was a psychic who presumably abandoned him that he would be a little more pissy towards them. Well, he is in this story anyway!_

_By the way, also trying to shoot for longer chapters. It feels like I write forever & ever but they seem short after I post them. So trying for longer though I tend to stop when it just feels right. So as promised, here is another update! If you've read **the many **other stories I've written you'll know I can't bear to leave something unfinished! :) Possibly another update today, we'll see how the next hour goes..._

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**Sweets is heading out to meet Booth but is delayed when he encounters a baby in the back seat of a car about to die from the extreme heat. He is able to rescue the child but the baby's dead mother's skeletal remains are in the trunk and the car is stolen. The woman nor baby were reported as missing by the swindling psychic father who Booth & Sweets are headed to see.**

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2.

"Someone, someone here knows a John…You! You there!" Phillip Karaet said approaching a woman in the second row with much enthusiasm. He saw the spark in her eye. _This is like shooting fish in a barrel _he thought to himself as he approached the woman near tears. He was tall with a head full of blonde hair and eyes that had a mischievous twinkle to them. His voice was deep and he spoke softly, endearing the crowd.

"He was special to you wasn't he?" Karaet asked as she nodded frantically. "A father, an uncle?" He said fishing for an answer.

"Some psychic." Booth said as they observed the show from a distance.

"It's a common technique." Sweets said irritated at the charlatan. "He saw the girl's reaction when he called out a very common name. He knows it will be a father type figure. If he gets anything wrong he will consider it a 'missed guess' and quickly move on and blame the error on strong feelings or other malarkey."

"My grandfather." The girl answered.

"Oh good, help him out for free." Sweets mocked quietly as they continued to observe.

"You lost him from, I'd say, heart, I'm getting a strong reading of something from the heart." Karaet continued as he placed his hand over his heart.

"Heart attack." Sweets said.

"You're psychic now too?" Booth asked.

"She's obviously upset about the person so you know it's a death or dying. Heart disease is the number one killer among men and if he's wrong he can try and go with broken heart or some crap like that." Sweets explained moderately. Booth was impressed but then it made sense after Sweets had said it.

"He, he had a heart attack two years ago." The girl mumbled.

"I'm sorry for that." Karaet said producing a tear to share with the girl.

"So what's the set up here?" Booth asked Sweets as they continued to watch. "She's already paid to get in."

"Right, but he still has a number of options, he will focus the most heavily on those who are dressed the best and in the best clothes to assume they are wealthy. Those are the people who will come to him after the show to pay a handsome price for a personal reading. This girl doesn't look to have much money but she will be so convinced by the end of this that she will swear on social media sites or any place else that he's the real deal which will overall secure him more popularity and, ultimately more success."

"Okay, so why does she buy into it? It seems so fake." Booth said.

"Well her suffering is real." Sweets pointed out. "She really is hurt by her grandfather's passing no doubt and hasn't been able to get over that hurt and is searching for someone to help."

"Maybe she should see a psychologist." Booth said.

"She probably thinks she is." Sweets said sadly.

"I sense that sometimes you are insecure and that you feel people in your life don't know you very well." Kareat paused as though to let that sink in as his eyes met hers.

_What are the odds? _Sweets wondered. _A young woman who feels insecure and misunderstood._

"I'll bet you are having problems with a friend or relative." Kareat went on to say as the girl's eyes lit up that he was so accurate. "It's important to know that your grandfather loves you very much." Karaet said as he reached for the girl's hand suggesting he had a live connection with her grandfather. "And he would want you to let go of the people in your life that are holding you back. He saw great things for you and you need to rid yourself of these imposters."

"Okay, I've had enough talk of imposters." Booth said stepping forward. "Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI we need to speak with you."

Kareat stepped back in surprise, his eyes closing in with Booth's - all that warm glow in his eyes had vanished as they glared at Booth. He quickly recovered and turned back to the audience with a warm smile.

"I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding." He assured the crowd and then turned back to face Booth. "And something that can wait until after the performance today."

"I don't think the matter of a missing child is something that should wait." Sweets said as he approached to join by Booth's side.

"I'm always happy to help the police and authorities." Kareat assured the crowd, endearing them to him.

"This is on a far more personal and criminal matter." Booth assured him as Kareat's warm smile vanished again. Booth held his arm out to the side to usher Kareat to the back.

A stage hand stepped out to apologize for the inconvenience and offer a coupon for another showing. Sweets looked to the young girl that Kareat was doing a "reading" for and walked over to her.

"Hi, look, don't do anything too hastily." Sweets told her. He hated to see this girl go and sever relationships with her family based on a suggestion by a hack. "I know what he told you, but give it a few days okay?"

"Why should I listen to you?!" The girl said angrily at the man who broke up her reading today.

Sweets knew that to get the girl to listen to reason he had to be unreasonable. "Because I can sense your grandfather too." He said in all seriousness. _And he's telling you to stop being dumbass by listening to hacks like Kareat! _Instead of saying what he thought he cleared his throat. "You had an accident when you were younger, something to do with water perhaps?"

The girls' look of anger changed to amazement and she eagerly nodded. Sweets continued with the next oldest line in the mentalist for dummies handbook. "You have a box of unsorted photographs in your house don't you?"

Again she nodded and put her hand over her mouth in shock. Sweets wanted to smack her in the head for being so naïve.

"Then why don't you go home and with your family sort thru that box of unsorted photos and try to remember why you got into discontent you have with those family members or friends and sort them out." Sweets suggested with the only real advice anyone had given anyone today. He ignored the fact he should probably follow his own advice and really work things out with Booth. He was much too busy stewing over those events still and turned to leave when the girl thanked him generously.

Sweets caught up to where Booth and Kareat were standing.

"Moving in on my business?" Kareat asked Sweets angrily.

"Oh you mean the business of screwing up people's relationships with family they care about? Yes. Yes I was." Sweets said happily.

"I was helping that girl." Kareat said defensively.

"How?!" Sweets said oozing sarcasm. He then laughed a bit to himself. "You're not even that good of a scam artist."

"I am not a…" Kareat began to say angrily but Booth stopped him.

"Okay, that's enough Mr. Kareat. Look we're here because we want to know when the last time you saw your wife was."

"Which one?" Kareat said rolling his eyes.

Booth knew from the file that he had been twice divorced and he could see why.

"Isabella." Booth answered.

"Ah, I haven't seen my _wife _in let's see…" Kareat began to think and it wasn't lost on either agent how Kareat said wife as though it were a joke. "At least four months."

"You haven't seen your wife in four months?" Sweets asked in a tone that suggested he didn't believe it. "And what about your baby?"

"It's not my baby." Kareat said in a mocking tone. "Cheating bitch."

"And such a shock why she would cheat on someone so charming as yourself." Booth said and Sweets had to agree with that.

"Hey!" Kareat said angry. "You're already going to hear from my lawyer after you interrupted my show today."

"Show?" Sweets asked mockingly. "I thought you were a serious…."

"Oh shut up." Kareat said. Both men noticed how agitated Kareat was.

"Tell me, where were you two Monday nights ago?" Booth asked having gotten time of death from Brennan.

Kareat smiled as though he were waiting on that question. Sweets thought it interesting because as of yet, he hadn't been told his wife was dead. "I was at a show, a few hundred people there if you want to check it out."

Sweets looked back at the empty seats that were in the room they were in, there were no more than fifty seats. It was a weekday, but still, something made Sweets wonder about that statement.

"We will, I'm sure you have a manager or someone who can get this information." Booth said. He was surprised that so far Kareat hadn't even asked them why they were there asking all the questions.

"So if that's all, I'd like to get ready for my next show." Kareat said backing up.

"Oh Phillip." Booth said stopping him. "Are you at all interested to know that your wife is dead?"

Kareat's eyes grew wide and searching.

Sweets smiled. "Of course not Booth. He's a psychic, he already knew."

"I wouldn't leave town if I were you." Booth suggested to Kareat as they turned to leave.

"How long will it take before the two of you repair your broken friendship?" He called after them. The two men paused and now it was their turn to glare at Kareat who looked at Booth. "He's the one that did it too, isn't he?" He asked to Sweets.

"Wow, you're good." Sweets said sarcastically and the two turned to leave.

* * *

In the car ride back to the Jeffersonian Booth mostly made phone calls. He was able to find out that Phillip Kareat never had a vehicle registered to his name that matched the description of the one found in the parking lot. This didn't surprise him. Booth finished up his second phone call while Sweets looked pensively out the window. _How long will it be strange between Booth and I? And what can make it change?_

"Okay, so it turns out that Kareat was at a show two weeks ago Monday." Booth said with a sigh. He really wanted to put that prick behind bars, at least for one night. "Honestly, it sounds like he went out of his way to make sure that he was seen all day."

"Maybe he paid someone else to kill his wife." Sweets said considering the possibility.

"Sure but how does the baby get in the car two weeks after the mom is dead?" Booth asked. "I want to find out who that baby's dad really is if Kareat says it's not his. He could have motive."

"So could a number of his customers." Sweets said considering them as well.

* * *

The pair arrived back at the Jeffersonian and found the team looking over the remains.

"What's news?" Booth asked as the two accompanied the rest on the platform.

"Ah yes." Brennan said removing her glasses and launching into a slur of medical jargon.

"So she was strangled?" Sweets asked.

"Yes, that is correct." Brennan confirmed.

"Time of death is still the same, which I understand doesn't fit with when her husband would have been available." Cam asked and Booth nodded. "It seems she was strangled and then for whatever reason, saved until her body was not more than what it is now."

"She was placed in a warm place." Hodgins said approaching. "But not the trunk of the car, there was no decomposition in there."

"Okay, so someone strangles here, waits for her to turn to bones and then puts her in the car with her daughter." Booth said upon which the team nodded. "And there were fingerprints anywhere in the car, so it was completely wiped clean."

"Maybe it was a ghost." Angela suggested and Sweets rolled his eyes. "What Sweets, don't you believe in anything?"

Sweets offered a signature "really?" look and went back to continuing over the case.

"Yeah Sweets really took that guy down a peg." Booth said offering a compliment which Sweets either didn't hear or didn't care to acknowledge.

"Oh yeah?" Angela asked. "What's the harm in a little free advice from someone huh? I say more power to them!"

"The harm Angela is for one thing it's never free." Sweets warned.

"So a few bucks goes into it, big deal." Angela continued. "If you had a practice they'd be throwing money at you for advice, what's the difference?"

Booth knew this was not a good topic for Sweets whose eyes only seemed to darken as the conversation went on. Brennan noticed as well and the two exchanged looks on how to change it. To Angela it was harmless but Sweets looked far less amusing.

"The harm Angela comes in false hopes. I would never offer anyone a sense of absolution that would be impossible to know an outcome." Sweets explained but Angela looked confused.

"In 2004 psychic extraordinaire Sylvia Browne told the parents of missing girl Amanda Berry that she was not alive. The girl was found last year being held captive in a home in Ohio. Amanda Berry's mother died thinking her daughter was dead. That to me is not harmless." Sweets said turning to leave the platform.

Angela was trying to decide if Sweets was right or annoying when Booth looked at her.

"Sweets' isn't a hack." He said in a near warning voice that they not need bring up the topic or joke about it again. "And he doesn't deserve that kind of joking when all he really wants to do is help people." Booth turned and left the platform which remained silent.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

_Okay, finally! And please review, it's very helpful and motivating. Or damaging and depressing - I suppose it depends on the review XD. _

_If you are tired of waiting on me to update (which I've got a good feel where it's going now) check out the MANY other very Sweet stories in my repertoire. Read them already? Eh...read again! ;)_

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**Recap: Booth & Sweets visit the psychic who hardly seems to care that his wife is dead, having not seen her in four months and says that the baby, Anna, is not his. Sweets and the psychic spar some and he brings up the obvious tension between Sweets & Booth. Both men continue to ignore it while the Jeffersonian team discover the mother was strangled and left to deteriorate someplace warm in the two weeks since she died.**

* * *

Sweets insisted he needed to tend to paperwork and patients while Booth headed to his office to make some calls. The team was trying to find traces of the identity of the baby's father and Booth intended to do the same. Booth also awaited the footage that Kareat's assistant promised from the performance that Monday night. He hoped it would arrive soon and that Sweets could look it over and see if he noticed anything about Kareat's behavior.

Booth also knew that things had to change between himself and Sweets. Booth had apologized, not in so many exact words as "Sorry I beat you to nearly to death with a shovel and locked you in a box to elude a worse death by a psycho only to leave you to endure the reliving of a childhood nightmare." He wondered if they had a Hallmark card that said that for him. Booth rubbed his head. Wyatt's advice of giving it time wasn't working, or maybe Booth was just impatient and wanted things to go back to how they were- when Sweets trusted him and didn't keep a good distance between them. Booth had noticed that whether conscious of it or not Sweets stood a length away from Booth, enough space to run or avoid being hit by shovels.

He was interrupted by his thoughts when his phone rang, it was Angela.

"So I have an identity on the baby's father, Bennett Hoch." She announced and Booth jotted it down to find his address.

"Excellent Angela." Booth said as he began a search for his address. "Anything else on Kareat?"

Angela sighed. "No, it's very frustrating, I've found nothing non him except for his psychic career. Did you know he charges five thousand dollars for a private session?!"

Somehow it didn't surprise him based on how arrogant Kareat was.

"Okay, well let me know if you find anything more." Booth said before hanging up. As he got up to leave his office his assistant stopped him with the copy of the footage from that Monday night performance. He decided since it was in hand he would take it by Sweets office and see if he wanted to come along.

As Booth arrived at Sweets office he found the psychologist working at his desk. Booth gingerly stepped inside as Sweets stopped typing and looked up at Booth though not as enthusiastic as it seemed he once was when Booth stopped in.

"Got a lead on the baby's father." Booth said knowing Sweets would be interested in finding Anna some family.

"Good." Sweets said.

"So, do you want to go?" Booth spelled it out.

"Oh, uh, if I have to." Sweets said and Booth couldn't help but feel a sting that went with that. "It's just that I have a lot of work to do here." Sweets added to help remove the sting.

"Sure thing." Booth said turning to leave and remembered the DVD in his hand. "Oh, if you have time, here's that footage of Kareat." He set it on the edge of Sweets desk but didn't wait for him to say anything more when he left.

* * *

"Booth!" Brennan called to him as he headed to the elevators, she had been unable to find him in his office.

"Hey Bones." Booth said greeting her. "I was just heading to see Bennett Hoch, the baby's father, want to come." Booth suddenly felt anxious for someone who wouldn't avoid being around him.

"Sure." She said and joined him.

As they sat in the car Brennan noticed the silence and contemplative nature that Booth sat in.

"I would gather that something is still bothering you. Is it the case?" She asked.

Booth shrugged, he was tired of trying to fix the problem and so far hadn't found any advice that worked. Still, he didn't want to blow off Brennan.

"It's Sweets, he still hates me." Booth said. He was expecting Brennan to say that wasn't' the case.

"I can understand that." She said instead.

"What, wait, what?" Booth stammered over his words.

"Well, based on the way things unfolded I would say that Sweets is not in a good place. Besides what happened between the two of you, there's still the fact that you locked him in a small space making him relive some less pleasant childhood memories. But still despite that- remember that Sweets killed Kline. It's the first life he's ever had to take."

Booth nodded, he had been so focused on the faltered relationship between he and Sweets that he had forgotten that despite having tried to kill Sweets, Sweets saved Booth, and everyone else's life by killing Kline.

"So you're saying that I'm the least of Sweets worries?" Booth asked hopeful.

"Not at all." Brennan said destroying the shred of hope Booth had fostered. "Rationally Sweets understands and can justify that he did what he had to do by killing Kline in order to protect everyone."

"But he's still mad at me." Booth said getting a clear idea of where she was going.

"Rationally I don't think he's able to understand or justify what you did to him." Brennan explained and Booth was starting to understand. He often anticipated talking to Brennan about Sweets knowing the two of them thought the same way. Both were highly intelligent and guarded their feelings and pasts with a thick wall from a world that didn't understand them. So while Booth understood, it didn't made the prognosis any clearer.

"We're here." Booth said instead and pulled in 1636 Apple Lane, just a few minutes outside D.C.

"Do we have any idea what the nature of the relationship between Isabelle Kareat and Bennett Hoch is?" Brennan asked as they came to the door.

"Just that they made a baby together while she was still married to Kareat." Booth said as he began to knock.

The door was barely on the latch and as Booth knocked the weight pushed it open. Before Booth could announce that they were F.B.I the door swung open to reveal a human skeleton propped on the couch. It sat casually with one leg bent at the knee and propped on the other, one arm on the couch and the other holding a martini glass which was wired into the other hand.

"This can't be good." Brennan said walking into the room.

"Is that him?" Booth asked.

"Caucasian, male, early thirties." Brennan said. "I'd have to get him back to the lab for more."

"Bones, did you see this?" Booth said pointing to the table. On it sat two more martini glasses with liquid in each glass. Both glasses held liquid cold enough that the glass was frosted.

"Based on the temperature of this room I would say those have _just _been placed there." Brennan suggested.

"So someone was expecting us." Booth said looking back at the grinning skeleton.

* * *

Crime scene tape was strung and the small bungalow home was soon invaded upon by FBI and Jeffersonian personnel. The remains were taken to the Jeffersonian for further inspection and Booth left to head back to the FBI building intent on doing more research on the victims, their one elusive suspect and at least one more either suspect or witness. Preliminary estimates suggested that Bennett Hoch had been killed at the same time that Isabella Kareat had been murdered which begged the question- 'who kept the baby for two weeks?'

Booth stopped by Sweets office to give him the latest on the new victim and poke his mind as to who else might be involved and have cared for the baby. He opened the door and found Sweets with his back to the door. Booth was about to announce a hello when he noticed that Sweets was replaying a section of video. Booth recognized Phillip Kareat on the footage and deduced it was from the suspected night of the murder.

Sweets was replaying the footage which included sections in which Kareat was not speaking but instead the camera seemed to zoom in on him smiling and looking towards the camera. Sweets was replaying this section over and over, pausing to study it. The behavior alarmed Booth.

"Sweets?" Booth said, surprising Sweets who jumped slightly in his seat and turned around revealing a pale face, which only alarmed Booth more. "Sweets, what's going on?"

"Nothing, it's uh, it's nothing." Sweets said turning back to look at the screen again. Booth didn't buy it and took another step forward but not wanting to push too hard simply turned and left.

By the time Booth got to his office he was pissed and highly irritable. He focused his energy on figuring out who Phillip Kareat was and less on Sweets who he was about to give up on. _I can find another profiler. _Booth told himself. _But not one as good, _he also reminded himself. Booth didn't like how Sweets acted but he began to formulate that it had less, this time, to do with Booth and more about what Sweets was watching, which was Kareat.

* * *

Sweets sat in his office looking over the paused image on his screen of a big, fake smile on Kareat's face.

"It can't be." Sweets said under his breath to himself.

Sweets turned in his chair and pulled up another window on his laptop this time. Several taps of quick moving fingers later and Sweets was on the website he was looking for. He paused to scratch his head as he tried to remember the name he was attempting to recall. Soon the image appeared before him and took him back to a time in life he would have rather forgotten - high school. Sweets hit print and looked at the image in front of him and wondered what to do next.

* * *

Booth looked up and saw a figure just outside his door and wondered who was hovering- trying to decide to come in or not when Sweets walked in. Booth was pretty sure this was the first time Sweets had stopped by his office in a long time. Booth noticed he had a paper in his hand. Sweets was still quiet as though contemplating something so Booth decided to start the conversation and hope that Sweets would relax. He sat in the chair opposite Booth.

"So no one can find anything on Phillip Kareat. Angela's dug, I've dug, nothing." Booth said.

Sweets handed the paper over. "That's probably because his name is really Allen Barton." Sweets eyes didn't meet Booth's as he felt fidgety in his chair.

Booth glanced at the photo and then back to Sweets, he didn't see it.

"His hair is brown there, and I think he's had a nose or chin work." Sweets added sensing Booth didn't agree. "Trust me, I know it's him."

"You didn't mention anything when we went to interview him." Booth said suspiciously.

"I didn't realize it till I was watching the video." Sweets said. "It took a second but when I saw it, I knew it was him."

"Saw what?" Booth asked, curious above all.

"That smile, that furious grin."

Booth looked back at the high school photo, still not buying it. But he looked to Sweets who seemed haunted by something, he seemed so sure. His phone buzzed and he read the text.

"Okay then, let's go by the Jeffersonian. They've got some news for us and we'll runt his by Angela." Booth said and this time he was slightly surprised that Sweets didn't disagree to come along, though he was dragging his feet some. Booth could help but wonder why.


	4. Chapter 4

_So I got a question and I answered it with a PM but others might be curious so I should answer it, did the story of the baby in the car come from the recent news? sadly hearing about kids in the car happens all too often and especially in the summer months. Whenever I get into a hot car in the summer I can't help but think how terrible it would be. But yeah a lot of stories tend to come from other news events. The Car in the Lake was from a news story about a car that was found fifty years later with bodies inside. Sometimes I change the facts around from there but it's sometimes I starting point. The Tierney in the Image was a takeoff of The Maltese Falcon & Laura which are fictions. I don't know if the others came from others or not. Sometimes I never know what's in my mind! ;)_

_If you ever have a question, please ask! ;)_

* * *

**4.**

**Booth nor Angela are able to find any information on Phillip Kareat. They find the identity on baby Anna's father, Bennett Hoch. Sweets is busy so Brennan & Booth go to question him. They find his remains propped on the couch with cold drink in hand. Brennan takes the bones back to the Jeffersonian while Booth goes back to work, finding Sweets reviewing Kareat's performance one frame at a time. Alarmed & confused but Sweets playing it off as nothing, Booth goes to his office. Sweets arrives there later with the true identity of Phillip Kareat - Allen Barton. Booth doesn't believe it as they head to the Jeffersonian.**

Booth handed the print out over to Angela who looked at the image skeptically. She had reviewed images of Kareat over and over as she dug for information on him.

"Why do you think it's him?" Angela asked Sweets.

"Some people just leave an impression on you." Sweets said darkly.

Brennan came in the room along with Cam and informed them that Bennett Hoch did indeed die the same time Isabella Kareat did as well.

"So do we think that Kareat found about them and killed them?" Hodgins asked entering now as well.

"I don't think so." Angela said. "I've dug thru all of Isabella's emails. She was talking to divorce lawyers and some friends about how awful life with Kareat was. She was anxious to divorce him. He totally ignored her for weeks at a time. She thought he had just left her when she had the affair with Bennett and had a baby with him. Kareat hadn't signed the divorce papers and he showed up again after Anna was born, but still it didn't seem like he had a lot of interest in her."

"Unless it was all sort of some plan." Hodgins suggested.

"But it could be someone else, I mean, does it _have to be _Kareat?" Cam asked.

"He just seems so suspicious." Angela said.

"What is this guy here?" Brennan asked glancing at the paper.

"Sweets thinks it's Kareat, but his name is Allen Barton." Booth explained.

Angela put the image in her computer and placed Kareat's image next to it. She took several measurements. While they were waiting Brennan turned to Sweets.

"How did you know this Allen Barton?" Brennan asked though most of them still watched Angela's digital handiwork.

"High school." Sweets answered flatly.

"But he's quite a bit older than you." Hodgins said not following along.

"I was a bit younger than my classmates." Sweets explained and they recalled that Sweets was a boy genius, a fact he did not often point out to them.

"So how did you know him?" Brennan asked pressing ahead, ignoring the signs that Sweets didn't want to go into details, but a fact he knew he was going to have to the moment he agreed to go along with Booth.

Sweets cleared his throat. "I didn't really like high school." Sweets said hoping that described the situation enough.

"Because you were younger and smarter you didn't fit in." Brennan said. "I understand this."

Sweets nodded. He imaged even as a bookworm Brennan was still pretty and probably not bullied as much.

"Being into death metal didn't help fit in any. Anyway, I had forgotten about him." Sweets said. "Surprising what you can forget when you really want to." Booth looked over to him as he said it.

"Well there is a match." Angela said as Brennan looked over her work to concur.

"There is significant remodeling done along the nose and chin." She said looking at the images. "But I would feel comfortable to agree that it is."

"Which goes to support this." Angela said pulling up more information. "The information on Allen Barton disappears about the time that Phillips Kareat appears."

"It wouldn't be uncommon for a person to develop a new persona for a stage presence." Hodgins suggested.

"Or run from a past." Booth also suggested thinking of the murderous possibilities in Kareat/Barton's past.

"Booth could be right, he did a pretty good job covering up who he was. People with a stage presence don't work quite that hard." Angela added.

"So, if this guy knew Sweets, who naturally didn't recognize him because he looks different, Kareat had to have recognized Sweets." Hodgins suggested.

"And he didn't say anything?" Cam asked.

Booth shook his head.

"And the body appears at the FBI building." Hodgins said further thinking aloud. "Which seems pretty intently placed."

"Wait, you think he is deliberately targeting Sweets?" Cam asked.

"What went on between you two?" Angela asked questioning that level of retaliation.

Sweets was suddenly interested in the floor.

"There was a full scholarship to college." Sweets explained. "I got it."

"And Kareat didn't." Hodgins said nodding.

"My parents were great people, but they didn't expect to need a college fund while I was still young." Sweets explained.

"And Kareat didn't take it well." Cam deduced.

"I think he figured that I would have lots of opportunities being younger, he deserved it more." Sweets explained. He paused and everyone knew there was more. "He was pretty mad when he found out."

While Sweets had put Kareat out of his mind he had put what happened that day out of his mind as well. Booth didn't know the particulars but he felt hot under the collar just thinking about them.

Hodgins laughed. "What did he give you a swirly or something?"

Apparently everyone but Hodgins caught onto the fact that this was a difficult topic for Sweets as they all stared him down.

"He shoved me into my locker." Sweets said, his eyes stared straight down at the floor as he recalled it. "I remember his face, that face, smiling at me. Asking me if I was smart enough to get myself out." Sweets paused to clear his throat. He knew he had to tell the whole story now. "I had a panic attack." He explained. "I never did like being locked in small spaces."

Once he said it everyone got why he had relented from telling them any faster. They knew some from being a child, then from Booth and now there was a time in between. _Poor Sweets _came to their mind though they knew he would not want their pity so they said nothing. Still, it wasn't fair and they couldn't help but admire the fact he had overcome instances like these to become the optimistic and caring person he was today. A twinge of guilt washed over each one for always giving him such a hard time, never thinking to scratch the surface to see what scars were underneath.

"Someone got you out though, like right away?" Hodgins asked in attempt to back pedal.

"Oh I screamed for help at first, but they laughed, he and his friends. Then I stopped." Sweets shifted his weight on his feet and rubbed his head. He was feeling uncomfortable but not for just retelling the story but being reminded of the story. He reminded himself he wasn't in that small space. "I had a panic attack." He explained. Cam felt alarmed to know it got that bad. She knew what that entailed and imagined Sweets stopped screaming because he had passed out from lack of oxygen.

"You almost died." Brennan guessed the same as Cam had and Sweets nodded.

"And so they expelled Barton, now Kareat." Sweets explained.

"Which probably kept him out of colleges." Angela guessed.

"I graduated and went onto college, forgot about him." Sweets explained, almost surprised at himself he was so successful at putting the horrid memory away for so long.

"But I'm guessing that Kareat didn't forget." Booth said.

"So ten years later he kills his wife, her love and puts their baby in a hot stolen car?" Angela asked. "Why?"

"Good question." Cam said. "We'd better work on figuring that out.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

**Recap: Sweets & Booth go to the Jeffersonian where they find out Bennett Hoch was killed at the time Isabella Kareat was. Angela & Brennan confirm that Allen Barton is Phillip Kareat. Sweets explains that Barton/Kareat, several years his senior was a fellow senior in high school. He did not take losing a college scholarship to Sweets well and proceeded to lock young and already traumatized Sweets in a locker where he had a panic attack & nearly died thus expelling Barton. They suspect that Kareat placed the bodies & the car at the FBI to target Sweets.**

* * *

"Well the first thing that needs to happen is that Sweets needs to go." Booth said with all the harsh looks darting towards him. He went on to explain. "If Kareat is somehow involved we can't have Sweets involved until we're sure."

"He's right." Cam said, unhappy to agree. "Kareat may even be using the connection with Sweets to cry foul if he is guilty and try and get out of it."

"I understand." Sweets said, his tone in agreement if not devoid of resentment.

"Here, take my car." Booth said offering a peaceful option. "Bones, how about we take your car and we go and question Kareat about why he didn't tell us he knew Sweets."

Brennan agreed but Sweets had already left the room by the time they had turned back to face him. Booth wondered if that made it easier for Sweets or the rest of them, the fact he had left without a fight but his thoughts were interrupted by the chirping of the computer. Hodgins pressed several buttons and smiled.

"What's that?" Booth asked, anticipating a break in the case.

"I found the match finally for the car in the parking lot. If you recall, the vehicle ID tag was stolen. I was able to match three of the part numbers to the manufacturer and then tracked down the car. It was signed over to a junk yard about a year ago." Hodgins explained.

"Well, I don't know if that's news." Angela huffed. "If I wanted a car no one cared about for dumping a body, I'd go to a junk yard too. Not that I would need to, mind you."

"Yeah, but still, why go to the trouble of removing the vehicle ID." Hodgins mused.

"Okay, well we are going to go and drill Kareat. There is something about that guy I just don't like." Booth said ushering Brennan out of the room while she reminded him that not liking a suspect did not automatically condemn him.

* * *

"How did I guess that you might be back." Kareat said as Brennan and Booth came into the studio he was rehearsing in. "Have to be quick, I have a show in a few minutes."

"You are always a busy guy." Booth said. "We do have a few more questions for you."

"Did you find my wife's lover. I believe you were looking for him last time." Kareat gave a broad smile and both Brennan & Booth imagined that was the smile he gave Sweets while shoving him in the locker.

"As a matter of fact we did." Brennan said not offering much more.

"Good." Kareat said waiting for more but they said none. He smiled again and offered them a seat.

Booth & Brennan exchanged glances, Kareat wanted them to say something but he was smart enough not to indulge more of his own. They both observed that he didn't seem worried, if they had implied he was alive that he would have insinuated Kareat in some way, he seemed to know he was safe since Hoch was dead.

"So what do you want to see me about this time?" Kareat asked sitting comfortably in one of the audience chairs.

"Your name used to be Allen Barton." Booth said pointedly.

Kareat smiled. "Yes, but no one wants to go and see a great mind with that name. No, Kareat had a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?" He asked turning to Brennan as he asked the question.

"No." She answered flatly. "Tell us, you went to high school with Dr. Lance Sweets didn't you?"

Kareat smiled again. "Ah yes, Lance finally remembered me huh?" He laughed to himself.

"So you admit it?" Booth asked.

"Of course."

"Then why didn't you say thing before?" Booth pressed.

"Well Lance didn't seem to remember me and I didn't want to bring up those old memories, I wasn't very nice in my old days. But you know, change of name, change of attitude."

"I didn't bother you that Dr. Sweets had completely forgotten you?" Brennan said making sure to call him 'Dr. Sweets' each time Kareat said 'Lance' to infuriate him with the successful path the scholarship had taken Sweets.

"No, not at all." Kareat said but Booth knew he was lying. His eyes darkened as he said it and Booth knew this _was _personal between he and Sweets.

"Sure it did." Booth said pressing his buttons. "Sweets went on to be a successful doctor and you're doing you know, side show freak stuff."

Kareat shot Booth a look that could kill.

"Which pays quite well, I'm sure that nerd of a doctor, as you call him," Kareat said looking at Brennan as he said it. "doesn't make near what I do."

"Yeah but what he does is important." Booth said, enjoying his increased taunting of Kareat and the effect it was having. Kareat seemed to catch on and threw his head back to laugh.

"Yeah but you should have heard him crying like a baby in that locker." Kareat taunted. "He made such a big deal of it and freaked out."

Booth was about to punch him but he was pretty sure that Brennan was going to beat him to it. Physically harming Kareat would surely remove them from the case. Booth calmed himself and wanted to correct Kareat and suggest that if he knew what Sweets had gone thru why it had the effect that it did, but then again psychopaths don't care about that sort of empathy he reminded himself - Sweets taught him that.

Kareat rolled his eyes. "Oh don't tell me you thought of him any differently." He directed his comment towards Booth. "Lance is the same now as he was back then, an annoying little nerd who has all the answers. Are you really going to tell me you treated him any different? He's just not one of the socially acceptable, he's never going to be."

"It's a far better cry to be with the social outcasts than the asses of social elite." Brennan had found herself shaking some as she felt the insult directed at "her kind" as well. She got up to leave finding Kareat to be too much of a nuisance to talk to.

Kareat rolled his eyes to Booth as though Booth would take his side instead of the nerds. Booth shook his head.

"I'm on their team." He said and left with Brennan.

Booth caught up to Brennan who was walking towards the door.

"I don't know why we bother with him, he's quite an insufferable human being." She said and Booth knew she was flustered.

"Well, we do know one thing, he does take this personally with Sweets. We just need to know how far and why and how he's implicated." Booth said while reaching into his pocket to get out his ringing phone.

"Yeah, Booth." He said answering.

"Agent Booth this is Officer Hal Renea." The man on the phone said. "You mind telling me why you left your federal vehicle on the road after an accident?"

"What, I didn't…" Booth said recalling that he gave Sweets his SUV. "I wasn't driving it, another agent was, is he there at the scene? Is he okay?"

"What? No, no one's here." The officer said, his voice having gone from annoyed to concerned. "Wait a second let me look in. Looks like it got hit on the driver's side, that's bashed in and the driver's side glass is everywhere and the airbag's deployed, oh, uh oh." He said causing Booth's blood to run cold. "There's some blood on the air bag. But I'm sorry to say but there's no one here."

Booth turned to look at Brennan who was eagerly anticipating an update and saw over her head to Kareat who stood in the auditorium, smiling.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

_Reviews welcome! On this or other chapters or the other stories as well! I am thinking I should work on my villains more. I try to make them pretty awful, well except the one you sort of felt bad for, the dad. Kareat is pretty fun but Yaz, he was a pretty sick bastard too. Maybe I need more sicko's like him! Thoughts on who's been the best villain? That would be a fun thing to see. Anyway, let's just say we're going to see a lot more of Kareat before this story is done…._

* * *

**Sweets heads back to the FBI building in Booth's SUV as to not be involved in the case, making it difficult to prosecute if he is involved with Kareat. Brennan & Booth go and question Kareat who proves to be aggravating and does seem to harbor a grudge against Sweets. As they leave they find out that Booth's SUV was just in an accident and that Sweets is not with the damaged car.**

* * *

Booth & Brennan arrived at the scene in time for Officer Renea to have more of the story. He got called because the SUV had been in an accident on the quiet road and was left there. He got to the scene to find the vehicle and assumed it had been abandoned. Booth's repeated calls to Sweets cell had gone unanswered.

Booth naturally suspected Kareat but they were with him at the time the accident occurred.

"It seems like he always has an alibi." Brennan observed and Booth couldn't help but think the same thing.

"Almost too many alibi's." He said brushing the sweat off his forehead. The afternoon heat was building quickly and he anticipated the end of the summer's heat wave.

The scene was secured and Hodgins was on his way to find any possible evidence that could lead to where Sweets was, though the evidence so far was non-existent. They doubted that Sweets got in an accident and wondered off. The car that caused the impact was gone and the road was out of the way enough that no businesses were around.

Frustrated the pair returned to the Jeffersonian.

* * *

"I'm tracking but I'm not getting anything." Angela said as the pair came in her office. She knew they were going to ask for her to track Sweets cell.

"Why not?" Booth asked as he welcomed the cool air conditioning of the room. "It's on, it's ringing and going to voicemail."

"It's got a blocker on it." Angela said. "Someone doesn't want us to find it. Unless Sweets answers it and tells us where he is, I can't do anything." She said she couldn't do anything but her fingers were feverishly working at trying.

"Hodgins is at the scene, maybe he can find something from the car that hit him." Brennan suggested growing nervous.

"That SUV can take a hit." Booth said. "If someone hit it and kept going it's got to be like a tank."

"Which probably isn't going to leave a lot of pieces behind." Angela guessed.

"What do we do now?" Brennan asked.

* * *

That hurt. No, that hurt. Yep, everything hurt. Sweets was pretty sure his heart had moved into his head because it was pounding. He wished for the blissfulness of unconsciousness again as the pain was increasing each second he came to. He heard a ringing in his head and began to realize it was in his pocket. The pounding of his head begged for it to stop. He moved his hands but they came as a pair. Unable to focus clearly in the dark he concentrated on becoming more aware and realized his wrists were tied together in front of him with a zip tie. The tension was pulled tightly and caused a great deal of pain.

Above him, past his head was a small slit of sunlight coming thru as well as another by his feet. Combined they only allowed a sliver of light into the space. Sweets reached up but his hands quickly touched metal. His feet weren't bound and when he tried to stretch them out they also quickly touched metal. He tested the sides to find them metal as well.

_Calm down. _He told himself. _There's light, you're not underground. _That made him feel better but with the increasing consciousness came not only the realization that he was trapped in a confined space but it was outside and in the oppressive summer sun that was heating the space at a rapid rate.

The phone began to ring again. _Help! I have to answer it! _Sweets was relieved to hear the phone ring, he would answer it, Angela would track it and he would be out of here, he just had to stay calm.

It took him a moment to get both hands to move together and reach inside his pocket to retrieve the phone. He consciously moved the phone so that he didn't drop it. His eyes tried to focus on the name on the caller ID but he couldn't see clearly. If it was the dry cleaners calling he was okay with it, anyone who could help him.

"Hello?!" Sweets answered anxiously.

Booth could barely contain his relief at hearing Sweets voice and the feeling was reciprocated by Sweets this time as well. Sweets rested his head on the surface on which he was lying when he heard Booth call his name.

"Where are you?" Booth asked having caught his breath.

"I don't know." Sweets said honestly. "In some sort of box, a metal box, but there is a little bit of light, I don't know, I just came to."

Booth had been hopeful for more information.

"Get him to describe what he's seeing, smelling, anything." Angela encouraged as she continued to run information on her computer.

"Sweets, what do you see, smell, hear?" He related and decided to put the phone on speaker.

Sweets looked around. "Just two slits of light. My, my hands are tied together, I can't hold the phone and move them at the same time."

"Just hold the phone." Booth said preferring he have the phone than him lose it, they needed a connection to Sweets and the phone was all they had. "What about anything else, do you hear anything?"

"No." Sweets said listening to his own voice echo in the car, pausing to hear anything again. "No, it's just me."

The loneliness in Sweets voice resonated in Angela's office at the Jeffersonian where they all stood helpless.

"It's metal. When I touched the sides before it's metal but it's like I'm lying on something rubber. And I smell, gas."

Booth's chest tightened at the thought of gas and explosions and a sick game that Kareat could be playing.

"But it's like old gas." Sweets said. "And oil. I…I think…" Sweets turned the phone slowly in his hands to let the light shine around the area he was in.

They all quietly waited for him to say more. They heard a 'clunk' as Sweets head dropped to the surface he was lying on. His voice returned with defeat heavy in it. "I'm in the trunk of a car."

"Oh!" Cam said excited that she remembered something. "Cars have releases if you are in the trunk, he's just got to pull it!"

"Nope." Sweets said feeling the headache increase. "Not for sure but think this car is at least sixty years old."

"That explains why it's all metal around him." Brennan explained. "Old cars didn't line the trunks for several years. And it's not going to have a trunk release."

"Well where the hell is he then, an old car show?" Angela asked frustrated.

"No it's quiet where he is." Booth said. "Sweets, can you push on anything, a tail light, anything that's exposed?" There was no answer. "Sweets, are you…"

"I'm here." Sweets said, this time his voice slurring. Booth recalled the accident.

"Sweets, are you okay, are you hurt?" His excitement to hear the young man's voice had superseded the notion to ask if he was okay. Again there was no answer. "Sweets!"

"Yeah, huh, yeah, a trunk, I think it's blue." The phone made a clank noise.

"Sweets, what's that?" Angela asked.

"Phone, heavy, sat it down." Sweets breathing was becoming more audible as he tried to shift his position in the trunk.

"Sweets you need to help us buddy, we can't track your phone, you have to help us where you are. Can you push open the trunk?" Booth waited for a response but there was none. "Sweets!" Booth shouted between concern and annoyance.

"Booth," Cam said softly. "If he's outside, in a trunk of a car…it's nearly a hundred degrees out."

Their eyes widened at the realization at the severity of the situation. Booth's mind was flooded with thoughts, was it Kareat, was this the same as his earlier M.O.? He had to forget about Kareat for a moment, he had to find Sweets. But how? In the trunk of a car, that could be anywhere.

"I'm going to see Kareat." Booth announced.

"No, Booth!" Brennan said stopping him. "He's not going to tell us anything, if he does have something to do with it. He was with us when the accident occurred remember?"

"Crap so we have another suspect out there?" Angela asked.

"We need to find Sweets." Booth said as Cam & Angela watched them discuss this.

"Yes but how?" Brennan asked, concern growing in her face. She knew the situation Sweets was in, he didn't have a long time if he was locked in the trunk of a car on a very hot day.

"I find Kareat and I make him tell me." Booth said, anger filling his eyes.

"You know he's not going to tell us." Brennan said and stopped as the breathing over the speaker on the phone was increasing.

"Maybe he would enjoy it and he'll slip up." Booth said.

"He wants to get back at Sweets, he's not going to slip up." Brennan assured him.

The breathing on the phone was highly audible and she walked away from Booth to pick up the phone and took it off speaker.

"Sweets, can you hear me?" Brennan said trying to wash the worry from her tone.

"Yeah, I'm, huh, yeah." Sweets said obviously confused in his own response. Brennan knew as more time passed Sweets would become less lucid.

"Sweets, I want you to listen to me okay?" Brennan said slowly and softly. "We're going to find you okay? We just might need some help, can you help me?" She knew of Sweets constant willingness to be part of the team, to help and hoped that even in a semi-delirious state he would be responsive.

"Okay." He said as his breathing slowed and became more controlled.

"Can you look around the trunk of the car again, is there a manufacturer label, anything that might help us?" Her voice was calming and reassuring but never demanding. They could hear Sweets struggle to pick up the phone and move within the tight space, his long and tall figure was surely cramped within it.

Coughing soon ensued as they could hear Sweets shuffled within the space inspecting it. Booth turned to Cam and spoke in a lowered voice.

"What are we looking at here? How long does he have?" He asked.

"It would depend on how long he's been there, other injuries, if there is any shade…" Cam was wanting to put off the question but in all honesty she didn't know based on so many variables. Booth gave her a look. "We need to hurry."

"What if we solve the case, will it lead us to Sweets?" Angela asked.

"Or is Kareat doing this to pull us from the case?" Cam asked. "He might know this will divert our attention.

"So what is it then, Sweets or the case?" Angela asked.

Booth gave her a look. "Do we really even have to ask?"

They looked back at Brennan who continued to press the phone to her ear, eagerly waiting for any and every response.

"Okay, so Kareat didn't do it, someone he knows had to." Booth said thinking the case thru.

"Are we sure it's Kareat in the first place?" Cam questioned.

"Yea, my gut tells me it's this guy." Booth said feeling he was right.

"Well let's hope so, because Sweets' life is dependent on your gut right now." Angela said turning back to her screen to run searches again.

"I've dug some but every time I try and pull something up on Kareat I get nothing." Angela said. "It's like the guy doesn't exist outside of his psychic world."

"Wait, Sweets said that some people get really lured in by psychics. What is someone he did a reading for would do just about anything for him?" Booth asked.

"Okay, let me see if he has any really devoted followers." Angela said running searches.

Cam's eyes went back to Brennan who listened and continued to speak softly. She knew that old cars tended to not seal as tightly as new cars so he should have air plus the air around the tires was more expanded, the trunks didn't have liners so air would be coming in - hot air. The temperature was going to be the greatest enemy for Sweets. Her eyes went back to what Angela was finding, for that was the only way they would find Sweets.

In the trunk of the car Sweets hear a soothing voice talking to him. He had sat the phone down next to his head and rolled onto his side to hear it. He had searched the car and was able to tell her nearly nothing. There was one old sticker on the side of the car, paper to the touch but his vision couldn't read it. The trunk was devoid of anything but heat. He tried distraction techniques and listening to Brennan's calming voice. He knew they were staving off a complete anxiety attack but he also knew that the odds of surviving this weren't good.

Sweets suit stuck to his skin and he wished he could take off the jacket, or the tie or the shirt or the tee shirt under that but with his wrists tied he couldn't. From Brennan's suggestion, he kicked off his shoes finally. He used his toes to pull off his socks and felt a coolness for a few moments allowing some body heat to release but as the sweat stopped he knew he was in trouble. He lied and told Brennan he still was but he figured she knew better. He didn't know why he lied to her, everything was getting muddled in his mind, he didn't want her to worry.

"Dr. Brennan?" Sweets asked causing her to place the phone closer to her ear. Sweets voice was cracking and she knew this a sign of dehydration. "I'm sorry."

"For what Sweets?" She asked.

Sweets worked hard to put his thoughts together so she could understand. "I'm sorry if l have made you feel sad. But it's not your fault, any of your fault. Don't feel bad you didn't make it here in time. I understand."


	7. Chapter 7

_I don't think I've reminded anyone in a while but I still don't own Bones. Hope you enjoy this next bit..._

* * *

7.

**Recap: After the accident Sweets is missing but is reachable by phone, though not track able by phone. He is in the trunk of an old car and the team race to find him in time.**

* * *

"Okay there is one guy that sort of stands out, Jon Smith." Angela said. "He came to Kareat for a reading after his wife died. Based on their exchange on his Facebook page, Kareat spent quite a bit of time with this guy. Another family member even tries to intervene when he says that Kareat needs to leave his uncle alone, that his uncle is spending all his money on these readings with Kareat. The jerk then encourages the guy to talk to him more in person and they go offline. Presuming the guy did and cut off ties with his family…"

"Where can I find him?!" Booth demanded. The image was coming clear in his mind that it was Jon Smith who on request of Kareat killed both Isabella & Bennett that night and kept the baby until Kareat told him to get rid of it. He was probably also the one who put the cold drinks on the table and the one who drove the vehicle into the SUV, always giving Kareat an alibi.

"Um, 1919 Juniper Lane." Angela said and Booth quickly ran from the room. He was gone before he could see a single tear roll down Brennan's cheek, at what she was listening to.

"No, Sweets, there's time, just hang on." She said in as strong of a voice as she could. Cam sat next to her and took the phone giving her a minute. She continued talking to Sweets while Angela tried to ignore them and concentrate on work.

* * *

Booth opened the door of Brennan's car, wishing he had his car. He reached for the seat belt and took a quick breath in. The heat of the car sitting in the sun was intense and he looked to the readout on the dash. 'Exterior temperature 104, interior 110.' A clench went thru his chest as he knew this is what Sweets was feeling right now. He reached over to turn the air conditioner on high and welcomed the cool air but it hit him with a great sadness. He turned the cool air off and let the heat pour over him. In his mind if Sweets had to endure it, he wouldn't let that reality escape his mind as it fueled his anger as he drove to find Jon Smith.

* * *

Sweets breathed in but it felt like an oven of hot air entering his lungs. His mind slipped to his times in tight cramped spaces. As a kid sitting in the closet with blood dripping down his back from lash marks it was cool and dark, almost cold as he sat shivering with thoughts mostly from the pain and the fear. At that moment he had been fearful of _him _coming back, then after the days had passed he hoped someone would come back. That was his fifth birthday present.

By the time he was senior in high school he knew he had graduated from tiny clothes closets to the memory of the tall skinny locker. His growth spurt hadn't occurred yet and he fit in the locker much to Barton's delight. Sweets breathed in and that memory of the locker was tight and cramped but the metal was cool against his skin. He could smell the pages of the school books and pencils and stale school lunches lingering in the hallway air. The hook for a coat dug into his back and pressed against his scars, then only just over half a decade old. Thru the slits at the top he could hear the laughter of the boys and it felt like the worst moment of his life. As Sweets thought of that memory it seemed welcoming compared to now, though instead of laughter and shouts of 'nerd, coward, dork, dweeb' coming thru the thin door he heard the voice of Cam floating towards him from inside his confining space asking him to hold on and words like 'significant, care, love, friend' filtered in. A smile came on his face though his lips were stuck together since all the moisture had gone. His lips felt dry as the loose skin shriveled and withered.

The memory dissolved into the more recent box on the farm that night. He didn't remember being put in, only waking up and the matter of being there. It had been cool and rainy that night though time drew out like a blade, endless and sharp. What was real and what wasn't had blended into a swirling mass as the head injury reverberated within. He was sure it was Booth who had hit him and placed him there but he didn't know why and he was left as he had in the locker, only then he knew someone was just outside the door, even if it hadn't been a friend who had put him there then.

Now here he was again, in a confined space, only this time it was more like an oven. The air was stifling and thin, nearing hard to come by. He felt a cool breeze and by cool that meant maybe 98 instead of 120 degrees over by the wheel and he pulled towards it. Cam was asking if he was still there. He would have said no but a new sensation was taking over, feeling sick to his stomach. Cam was becoming frantic and even in this state of being he felt the need to help her.

He pulled his fingers to his face to force his sealed lips apart. The motion caused a tear and lip started to bleed in the center.

"Here Cam. It's okay."

He could hear her exhale deeply in relief.

"Don't do that to me Sweets." She said emphatically. "Tell me how you are feeling, I need to know so we can help you when we find you."

Sweets suspected she was trying to keep his mind busy which rocked from semi-lucid to seriously delirious from moment to moment. He had no idea how long he had been in the space but it felt like an eternity.

"Nauseous." He answered. "Maybe the smell of oil and gas and, and the heat."

Cam nodded though she suspected this had more to do with a serious case of hyperthermia setting in. She had been apprehensive and predicted this would happen. She jotted down the time and symptoms on paper should they be able to help him later. Brennan looked over her shoulder.

"Hyperthermia?" Brennan asked quietly and Cam nodded.

"Isn't that when you are cold?" Angela asked.

"No, that is hypothermia. Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to the body's failure to thermo regulate. His body is producing and absorbing more heat than it is dissipating." Brennan explained.

"So what does that mean?" Angela asked. She had assumed they would find a naked and sweaty Sweets in the trunk of a car.

"If his body temperature continues to climb it will force the body to shut down completely." Brennan's voice explained clinically but her expression was laced with misery.

"I'm going to look for Allen Barton's family." She said tapping away a bit faster than before.

* * *

Booth pulled up at 1919 Juniper Lane in a suit laced with sweat. He rapped on the door with a heavy fist. He waited for a second with the scorching heat beating down on his black blazer. There was no answer so he kicked the door in - he felt a little better for a moment. The heat from the house was immense as was the smell he couldn't deny a familiarity of. He passed the thermostat which was maxed out on high and quickly located the source of the putrid smell, Jon Smith, dead on the kitchen floor, the oven door open and on high.

Booth turned to leave, throwing up as soon as he got out the door.

* * *

"Did you find him?" Brennan asked as soon as Booth's walked back into the office. She wondered why he was so sweaty and hot.

"He's dead." He said tossing the keys aside. The air conditioning was making him slightly sick. "I called it in, they can poke around but I'm betting Kareat did it. I think he wanted it to look like a suicide but I'll bet Kareat took him out so he couldn't talk."

"Maybe you should see Kareat after all." Brennan said feeling they were nearly out of options.

"I did." Booth said, his voice grim. "He cancelled his shows. He hasn't been seen all afternoon. He's not answering his cell and the agents I sent to his house said it's empty."

"He skipped out?!" Brennan asked her last distant hope fading.

"Looks that way."

"Okay, I've got something!" Hodgins announced coming in the room. "Booth's SUV was hit with a tow truck!"

"How does that help us Hodgins?!" Angela shouted, the tension was mounting as fast as Sweets labored breathing.

"Well, we can track the guy who drove it." Hodgins said.

"Booth did. He's dead." Cam informed him.

"Oh." Hodgins said, eager to catch up on everything he had missed while he was working.

"And Allen Barton's family hasn't heard from him in years." Angela added.

Booth wanted to hit something, this wasn't happening he told himself. They could hear Sweets, breathing, well for the most part breathing, they couldn't lose him. They were all consumed with the similar feeling of hopelessness and frustration.

Booth briskly walked over and picked up the phone.

"Sweets! Can you hear me?"

The sudden loud noise made Sweets jump, it was different from Cam and Brennan's soothing tones.

"Yea." He said rubbing his head and rolling forward. His stomach lurched and he felt like he was going to be sick.

"Can you give me anything on Kareat, or Barton, anyone else would work with him, back in high school?"

"I don't know Booth." Sweets said coughing. The nauseous feeling was making him uneasy in the small space as his nerves were raised. He didn't want to yell though he was feeling angry. "I was picked on a lot, I'm sure there's a long list of people who didn't like me."

Sweets said it matter of factly for he had little mind at the moment to mask his remarks. He was bound in frustration, nearly literally as his wrists screamed in pain from the tight grip and slowed circulation. He wanted out of the trunk desperately but as powerless do anything. His legs had no room to kick but with a last bout of energy and anger he mustered together he punched at the lid above but it only proved it would not pop open and only left him with bloody knuckles.

"Success?" Booth asked.

"Maybe welded shut." Sweets said. "Look, Booth."

Booth waited but heard nothing.

"Sweets?" Booth asked.

"Yeah?"

"You were about to say something."

"Oh." Sweets obviously had no idea what he was going to say.

Booth pressed the mute button and looked at the group. "Anything? Come on guys we need something! Sweets doesn't go out like this!"

Exhausted and emotionally at their ends the group felt lost to find a clue. Brennan looked up at the research Angela had done so far.

"Heat, it's been playing a role." Hodgins said trying to look for a clue, talk thru what they had. Booth continued to listen to Sweets breathing of the phone, monitoring it though each breath felt painful, even to Booth just to listen.

"The car that had the baby in it." Brennan said pointing. "It turned out to be Jon Smith's?"

"No, it wasn't his, just a coincidence on name." Angela said. "That car came from the junk yard."

They all stopped when she said it.

"A perfect place to hide Sweets!" Cam shouted.

"Because he thinks he's junk." Brennan said softly.

Angela tapped away as the energy in the room mounted.

"Yeah except there are four in the area." She said deflating their vitality. "Wait!" She said tapping away. "How did I miss this, Barton worked in a junk yard after high school, he couldn't get a job anywhere or another scholarship after he was expelled.

"Where!" Booth asked with gritted teeth.

Angela secured an address and as Booth turned to leave they were all on his heels. He didn't mind, they would need all the help they could get in order to find him in time. The junkyard was sure to be immense in size.


	8. Chapter 8

_Look at all these updates? Ah yes, you're welcome and I'm awesome. And humble. Very very humble. (Yes that's a joke)._

* * *

8.

**Recap: Booth finds Kareat's associate Jon Smith but he's dead, presumably killed by Kareat who has skipped town. All hope seems lost to find Sweets when the team figures out that he's in a junkyard, which once employed Kareat. They leave together knowing a group will need to be there to find the 'not long for this earth' Sweets who is fading fast.**

"I'm going to need every available agent you can get." Booth shouted. He wasn't sure how it happened but Brennan took the driver's seat this time. It was her car after all and he was fairly impressed and fearful of her hasty driving speed.

"Yeah I don't care, we're running out of time and this junk yard is over 50 acres. We need more agents now!" He hung up Brennan's phone and went back to his which had been continuously active with Sweets call since he had first connected with him hours ago.

"Are you still there?" Booth said anxious but trying to be calm enough not to alarm Sweets.

"Where else would I be?" Sweets replied sarcastically though each word was slurred. Booth wanted to tell him not to be sarcastic but he was just glad he was talking.

"We're on our way okay Sweets, we've got a plan okay, so you know, just, just stick with it okay?" Booth said jerking at the near collision. He wanted to remind Bones this was a Prius not a tank.

"Okay." Sweets said in a voice that was non-committal and not terribly confident.

Booth wanted to say something but Angela & Hodgins began to argue in the back seat. Cam had the unfortunate tiny seat for her slim frame in the middle between them. It was warm, but no one was going to complain about the heat of the closeness.

"How about I hold the iPad!" She shouted taking it from them. She recalled this is why she didn't want small children.

"We could divide the area up like so." Angela said tapping the screen.

"But then we'll risk not covering these areas!" Hodgins shouted back pointing.

"Children!" Cam shouted. "Let's figure this out since we are only a few minutes away."

Booth leaned forward in his seat to be away from the noise in the back.

"Sweets, we are coming." He assured them. "That is if Bones doesn't kill us in route." He looked over at her at her to see if she took the joke well but her focus was solely on the road.

Sweets tried to clear his throat but it brought on a coughing bout instead. Booth wondered why and figured Sweets had long been short of water. He didn't know much about getting hot short of long football practices and didn't feel equipped. He wanted to ask but Bones was busy driving and the rest were busy bickering over a plan.

"Sweets, I know it's hard but you gotta hang on okay. Just like, think of some place cool okay?" Booth urged.

"Yeah okay." Sweets agreed but it didn't sound like he was going to. "Listen Booth, about what happened."

"I'm sorry Sweets, I should have thought it out more, I just panicked, that night. And I didn't think about you know, your past. I should have…"

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have blamed you like that. Or talked to you about it. Anyway, I don't want you to feel guilty about it anymore."

"Forgiveness huh?" Booth said. "On both our parts."

"Yes." Sweet said and rolled again, his body in constant search for air, relief from the heat. Booth listened to every sound to figure out what was going on.

"After this, we'll go for a cold beer, that sounds good right?" Booth still had much apprehension about the current situation but he also was filled with a relief that the riff that was between them had passed. "Yeah we'll go to the Four Fathers and have an ice cold beer."

There was silence.

"Sweets?"

"Yeah, yeah sure Booth." Sweets said in his least committal tone yet. The heavy breathing had changed from a nearly soundless entry on the other end of the phone.

Sweets lay on his back. His arms were tired and pulled as the wanted to fall at his sides but he zip ties on his wrists kept them in the center and issued a painful reminder as the weight tried to separate them. It was one of the things keeping Sweets aware at the moment. His mind was leaving, his body shutting down, he ran his mind thru what was left to do. He had forgiven Booth, he had no family, well, aside from those in the car. _They are on their way_ he reminded himself, always the optimist. His body said _too late_ as it grew tired. His heart was pumping rapidly; he knew his body would pull all resources to keep it beating as long as it could. _Funny how hard the body tries to survive _he thought to himself. The voice on the phone was talking, something about cold. Cold seemed like an impossibility in this oppressive heat. _Just agree with him _Sweets told himself. He wasn't hearing well, time to run thru that last minute list.

"Hey Booth, I'm sorry I got myself into this. I'm sorry I couldn't get out." Sweets said trying to get to what he wanted to say.

"That's what friends are for." Booth reminded him. "And we're only two…."

Sweets started talking before he finished, he couldn't hear Booth anyway. "I'm saying I'm sorry if you, I didn't want to be a bother, don't uh, worry. It will be fine soon."

Booth didn't know what the jumbled words were saying but they didn't sound good.

"Sweets?"

"Where should I go?" Brennan said pulling up to the gates that were shut.

"God I hope they don't crush cars." Hodgins said looking around.

"No, I checked already." Angela said.

"We probably have to find the owner to let us in, I doubt he's busy enough to sit here all day, in this heat." Hodgins said. "And he locks it so no one will steal anything.

"Well we aren't stealing anything that isn't ours." Brennan said backing up and flooring the gas. The tires of the Prius spun on the gravel as they headed towards the gate. The air bags deployed but once deflated they found themselves on top of the gate.

Hodgins looked at the dented front. "Wow, Dr. B, your car…"

"Is replaceable." She said looking around. "Where do we start?"

The four of them looked over the map but saw Booth already on foot.

"Okay, well Booth is going that way…" Hodgins said marking the map on the iPad.

"Sweets! I'm in the junk yard. What can you tell me about the car?" Booth called into the phone. "Sweets?!" There was no answer.

_It's an old car, he said something about a blue trunk. Old cars paint them inside and out so it will be blue. _He looked around. He knew most junk yards separated the vehicles in some ways so they could pull parts off them when needed. This one didn't look to be terribly organized as he scanned the area. He spotted some old cars and headed towards the lines of them. He knew Sweets saw sunlight, so it wasn't in a pile of other cars.

"Sweets, I'm here can you tap on the trunk?" Booth asked. He still heard nothing. "Come on Sweets, do this for me, I'm here, I just need to know where you are"

He couldn't hear a sound on the phone so he was sure Sweets wasn't moving to make sound.

"Please Sweets, help me."

Sweets heard few things but he was never able to deny the call for his help. Booth heard, over the phone, the tap of plastic, probably Sweets phone, against the metal. He put his phone in his pocket so he could hear it in the junkyard. He could only hear his own feet in the sandy gravel. He had to routinely stop so he could see if he could hear any tapping. It was taking a long time so Booth only paused when he neared an old blue car that could have been it, but each was silent. He hoped the others were having some luck.

The afternoon overbearing sun was causing beads of sweat to drop from Booth's head and slid down his back. Each drop reminded him of why he was there and he pushed harder with each step of his dress shoe into the uneven ground. He stopped again, the tapping sound in his pocket had ceased as well.

_Please, please, don't do this. _Booth pleaded, not so much to Sweets but maybe somewhere a little farther north, to the man upstairs. _He doesn't deserve this, please he's not done yet, please. _Booth pleas did not fall on deaf ears as minutes later he stood in sight of a blue 1956 Chevy 210. He thought it could be the one because he had followed fresh traces of tire tracks that backed up to it, possibly moving a body from one trunk to another.

Grinding of gravel lost its volume as the pounding of his own heart resounded in Booth's ears. The trunk would only open with a key though Booth doubted it was long since gone. He looked at the edge to see how it was shut and saw a shiny edge where everything else had dust, it had recently been welded shut.

"Sweets!" Booth tapped on the trunk. "Sweets can you hear me?"

No sound was emitted but Booth was sure this was it between the tracks and the fresh weld. He looked around, there was metal everywhere but he needed something strong. He found various pieces but few were strong enough. He would have given a thousand dollars for a thirty dollar crowbar at that moment but he didn't have enough time to go back for one. Settling on a thick brace he pulled it near the trunk and looked for the weakest corner of the lid. He wanted to call for help but he wanted to get the trunk open first, he was focused on his task - the rest of the world melted away.

After several digs and a few new dents made, he thrust the small end in the grooves as far as it would allow and Booth began to pull back on it, standing on the fender as the gravel was causing him to lose his grip. The metal on the pressure end began to dig in his hands. He didn't mind the pain but a few more pulls and his hands would be cut to shreds and be useless. Booth pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around the rough metal and commenced pulling. _Come on, please, please…_

The metal popped back causing Booth to fall back on the ground stirring some dust into the air. He thought the metal had snapped loose and he needed to try again, but as he waved the dust away he saw the trunk lid- open in the air.

Booth came to his feet and as he did he felt relief as the fabric of pants and a jacket came into view. He stood and peered into the trunk only to feel queasy at the sight of Sweets, pale and bluish in spots where the blood stopped circulating.

"Sweets!" He said moving forward to check for a pulse. The sound of his own voice echoed over the phone in his pocket. He knew he needed to call Brennan, he needed someone who knew more about this. First he checked for a pulse and felt a faint one. The heat had escaped from the trunk but Sweets was still lying in the heat. Booth pulled him from the trunk though he tried, Sweets limp figure couldn't sit on the edge of the trunk. Booth saw shade in the distance and pulled Sweets over to it. The sudden movement caused Sweets head to bob and turn to one side and vomit and shudder violently. Booth eased Sweets back against another car while still in the shade. He kept one hand on his shoulder as though to keep him in place while he pulled out his phone and called Brennan.

Brennan answered breathless, "Booth, we're not finding…"

"I've got him." Booth said gravely and Brennan understood his tone.

"How serious is it?" She asked and stopped completely as to take in all the information.

"He's alive, he's pale and he threw up."

"Did you move him? It's probably because of the movement."

"Well I wanted to get him out of the trunk." Booth justified and Brennan wanted to explain that wasn't what she meant but she focused on what they needed to do.

"Booth we need to get him to a hospital. Based on the amount of time he spent in the heat…"

"I got you Bones." Booth said looking at Sweets and could feel the misery emanating off the frail figure. For a moment Sweets looked dead but the slight rise and fall of his chest assured him there was life left. He knew that it would take too long to direct everyone to him. "Bones, call everyone and meet me at the car."

They hung up and Booth reached to pull Sweets towards him but the young man grimaced at the moment.

"Sorry, buddy, but we've got to walk back." Booth considered driving to the car and back but he knew that might take too long. He pulled Sweets forward again and again he grimaced. Booth had removed him from the trunk so quickly he noticed now the zip tie holding the man's wrists together. He now wished he had a pocket knife but no such luck. He turned Sweets hand to a round piece of metal and tried to rub the tie against them but it caused more pain than relief as Booth moved them. Sweets collapsed to one side and Booth knew even with assistance there was no way Sweets was going to walk back.

_Dammit! _Booth shouted in his mind. The head wouldn't abate for a moment causing Booth to feel angry. _Calm down, this isn't helping, _he told himself. _Come up with a plan B_ooth told himself. Taking a breath he looked around and after a minute found a suitable flat metal. He found his jacket and typing the arms at the two ends he had a formidable sled. He quickly lay Sweets on it and pulled it along the gravel and sandy ground. Once Sweets slid off after a bump and Booth shoved him back on and decided to move faster as the young man looked more pale this time.

As the Prius approached in the distance he noticed it was being removed by a few FBI vehicles. It was blocking the path but their assistance wasn't exactly needed now. They saw Booth approach and came to help him as the task and heat had drained him in the distance. Hodgins helped pull the makeshift sled the rest of the way and once it stopped Cam gasped.

"We need an ambulance." Cam said but the realized no one had called one.

"You." Booth said pointing to one of the agents he knew and recognized from the start of the case, Agent Riley. "What vehicle is yours?"

The nervous agent pointed to a black SUV. Booth figured Brennan's crushed hybrid may be out of service.

"Good." Booth said. "Then you drive us."

While Booth's adrenaline was running on high his nerves and energy were shot. Angela quickly opened the back seat and Booth and Hodgins carefully placed Sweets in the back seat. Booth sat on one side and Brennan climbed in the other. Cam helped herself to the front seat and another agent offered to take the remaining married couple in his vehicle. Agent knew both Booth and Sweets and knew of Brennan and Cam but as he drove he watched them nervously exchange glances causing him to drive a little more quickly and less cautiously.

Cam noticed Sweets hands still tied as Sweets sat bobbing unconsciously between the two partners. "We need to get that off." Cam said wishing she had her purse.

"Will this help?" Riley said offering his pocket knife. Everyone immediately liked Riley.

Booth freed Sweets hands, a gesture Sweets would have relished in hours before but now hardly noticed that, where he was or who was with him.

"He's extremely hot to the touch." Brennan said taking her hand away and allowing Sweets head to rest on her shoulder again.

"They can help him right?" Booth asked eagerly from the seat on the other side.

Cam's eyes wouldn't meet Booth's as she turned to Riley. "How much farther."

"Two minutes." He replied and pressed once more with greater pressure on the accelerator.

_Hang on, just a little more Sweets _they all seemed to share.


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry this is a bit short, but it's a good stopping point to the next part._

* * *

**9.**

**Booth finds Sweets in the junkyard and they take him in grave condition to the hospital.**

_Kareat needed to die. Jon Smith was already dead. Sweets wasn't going to be next. _Booth paced the halls, waiting, he hated waiting. As promised another agent delivered Angela & Hodgins but after waiting they left to pick up Christine & Michael Vincent. They sat and waited while Booth paced, hoping to wear the finish off the floor to get back at them making them wait. He wondered what took so long and had enough.

"Booth where are you going?" Brennan asked quickly following. Cam was nervous where this was heading and followed.

Booth poked his head in the doors of just about every room on the floor. Brennan didn't object and took part in helping.

"Sir, sir, what are you doing?" A nurse asked trying to stop the dusty and dirty agent.

"I'm looking for a patient, Dr. Lance Sweets." He said still poking his head in doorways. The nurse's small stature wasn't enough to stop him or the two women helping him.

"Here he is!" Brennan announced and the three quickly filed in the room. The nurse left to call for back up.

"Oh God he looks so pale still." Cam said and Brennan reminded her to be quiet so Sweets could rest.

Booth was about to ask more questions when the doctor, a tall, slender man with all gray hair came in.

"What are you people doing here?!" He demanded. "You can't be in here unless you're family."

"Don't you see the resemblance?" A voice sounding like it had been ground over a grate said from the bed. They all turned to Sweets who looked at them with eyes open only a slit and pointed to Booth. "He's my brother, that's his wife." He looked at Cam and offered a small smile. "She's the mean older sister."

Cam felt a tear prick at the corner of her eye but she smiled. Sweets looked back at the doctor and shrugged. "I'm adopted." He added.

"Fine, if the patient consents then you can stay." He said trying to shed his annoyance. "Just please ask next time."

"Well we waited forever for someone to come and get us!" Booth said exasperated.

"Oh." The doctor said, his tone changing. "We were informed from his records that Dr. Sweets had no family."

Booth looked back at Sweets. "We need to get that updated. He's got plenty."

"How is he doctor?" Brennan asked having not taken her eyes off Sweets since they came in.

The doctor nodded a held a look of concern but not of grave distress.

"Yes, how am I doctor?" Sweets asked though by now he was completely exhausted. Brennan noticed the quick exhaustion and looked him over. The dark circled bruises on Sweets wrists came to her attention and she stepped forward to look at them. She knew there was no medical benefit from taking Sweets hand but she did so and found she felt better though she was alarmed.

"Dr. Sweets is still very warm to the touch." Brennan said accusingly at the doctor.

"Yes." He said stepping closer. "The machine behind him is monitoring his temperature. When he came in it was at 105 degrees."

Cam tried to hold back a sharp intake of breath. "That's…" Cam stopped herself not wanting to terrify everyone with what she knew. She also felt the desire to take Sweets hand or just be a little closer as though to guard him in some way. They were consumed with a feeling of wanting to be close, feeling perhaps as though they had failed to stand guard before. It was natural, Cam knew that in times of crisis or nearly losing someone to want him physically close. Booth looked to the doctor with great anticipation to expand on what he was saying before.

"We have brought the temperature down, it looks to now read 101.9 which is a significant progress. It took time to overheat, it will take time to reverse the effects." He warned them and continued. "The severity was such that we could not use methods we might normally see in heat stroke such as rehydration or cool water."

"What did you do then?" Brennan asked, not familiar with the process.

"At 105 degree body temperature he suffered from what is known as a heat stroke. Since he was unconscious we applied an aggressive cooling measure such as intravenous hydration where the blood is cooled and recirculated in the body. He did very well and it brought the temperature down. We also did a preliminary assessment to see if any internal organs were damaged. So far we are seeing no adverse effects."

"What about the head injury?" Brennan asked noting the bump on Sweets head earned from the car accident.

"It checked out as fine as well. I'm sure you noticed the lacerations and bruising around the wrists. As with the head there will be some pain associated with it for some time but it will heal." The doctor assured them. "Right now he needs rest and time."

They all nodded but none of them got the hint to leave. The doctor observed the positive effect their presence had on his patient who was smiling and relaxed so he decided to give them some time and decided to shoo them out later.

"We're glad you're here Sweets, I mean, that you're okay." Cam said and Sweets nodded and gave her a smile.

"Me too."

"Angela & Hodgins were here but they left to pick up the kids." Brennan said remembering. "Oh, we should call…"

"No." Sweets said. "You should go home to Christine."

Brennan began to object but Sweets shook his head.

"I'm fine, Booth looks like he needs a shower and I need a rest." Sweets said and smiled. "Doctor's orders."

"Which doctor?" Booth teased but Sweets didn't say much more as his eyelids grew heavy. He was reluctant to go but he knew Sweets was right and he was going to be okay.

"Alright, but we'll be back later okay?" Booth said and they wished him well and left.

A taxi arrived and took the trio home.

"Looks like we'll both need cars now." Brennan joked to Booth.

"Yeah, they both took one heck of a hit." He smiled. "I just don't know how you're going to explain yours to the insurance agent."

"It was a medical emergency." She smiled back as her thoughts turned to more pensive ones. "Booth, Sweets will be okay right? I mean, I know medically he will recover but what about being locked in there? Again?"

"I don't know Bones. But he's survived past all these times, he's a fighter you know." Booth smiled and Brennan felt he was right. "Besides, he's got all of us!"

* * *

Sweets was sleeping with the help of a few medications but his dreams drifted thru a few nightmares all focusing around being trapped in various containers, one of which was a coffin which caused his eyes to shoot open and sit up with a start. He looked around, he felt like someone had been talking to him. It wasn't a calming voice like Cam, Brennan or Booth had been on the phone, it felt cold and harsh.

Sweets relaxed back on the bed and realized it must have been part of the dream. He went to raise his hand to his head to rub it but found something in his hand. He looked and saw a small pink blanket in his hand. His eye browns furrowed as he tried to figure out why it was there. It was too little to be Christine's. He folded it over in his hands and saw a darker pink thread on the end. He pulled it closer to read what was embroidered on it.

As the letters came to view he immediately pressed the nurse button he needed a phone, NOW. He knew he had to collect himself or she would never understand. He needed a phone to call the foster care. He knew he recognized that voice, Kareat was there and dropped off the blanket in Sweets hand. Baby Anna was in danger.


	10. Chapter 10

_Wesley1501…how right you are for here the update is….._

**10.**

**Sweets is at the hospital and is recovering slowly but fine. He has a nightmare about being trapped in a small spaces and wakes up to find that Kareat has stopped by and hinted that he's after baby Anna.**

* * *

"Yes I do thank you for calling doctor." Booth said into the phone at the early hour. "Yes I'm glad to know that and I'm going to kill him."

Booth hung up but the conversation caught Brennan's attention.

"Did you find Kareat?" She asked groggy eyed.

"No, I'm going to kill Sweets." Booth shook his head and reached for a pair of pants. "Well not like last time, no, you know what, just never mind."

"What's going on?" Brennan asked confused.

Booth sat back down to put his shoes on. "That was the doctor at the hospital. After our urging yesterday he said he would call if anything came up. Apparently Sweets woke up unnerved and wanted a phone to call. They thought he was nuts which made him more alarmed and they thought he was crazy. They were in the process of drugging him when they finally understood he was saying that the baby, the one he found in the car was in danger."

"Why does he think that?" Brennan asked.

"I don't know, the doctor didn't know much more. They did call the foster home and they did move the baby until we can figure it out." Booth said heading for a shirt and Brennan jumped to get ready as well.

"You'll need to call a cab." Brennan reminded him.

Booth sighed as he remembered. He had a better idea and picked up his phone.

"Yeah Riley, you got any cases? No? Good. Can you come and pick me up, we've got one now."

* * *

"I must advise against it." The voice was saying from the room as Booth and Riley approached.

"What's going on?" Booth said as he saw Sweets concentrating on signing papers but he was having much difficulty with his damaged wrists causing constricted movement.

"Dr. Sweets here is opting to leave the facility and though possible I want it to be known that it is against my advisement." The doctor stated his disclaimer.

"Whoa Sweets," Booth said alarmed now. "What happened to resting, relaxing and recovering?" The doctor nodded, he was glad Booth was on his side.

"Kareat happened." Sweets said and Booth's eyes widened. The doctor looked confused and Riley left to make a phone call.

"Kareat was here." Booth said understanding now what he meant about the baby and Sweets desire to act. "Right, yeah, let's go."

"What?!" The doctor said exasperated, he thought Booth was helping him with the patient not aligning in the mutiny.

"If Kareat was here this place isn't safe." Booth said.

"Well he didn't do anything." Sweets said. "Except leave the blanket." He thought to himself, he felt like he was missing something, like there was something more. "I think."

"Dr. Sweets I must seriously advise against this. Your temperature stabilized at 101 but it has not dropped to a more normal level." The doctor advised.

Booth paused, "Is that deadly?"

The doctor shuffled in place. "No, but it's a medical concern, especially with the _medical emergency_ we faced yesterday."

Booth paused, he didn't want to take Sweets out of the hospital if he needed to stay but he also knew the hospital didn't have the security if Kareat did make any more appearances. He knew Kareat had some sort of vendetta against Sweets that went pretty deep, deep enough there was more digging to do, more questions to answer. Deep down the fear was that if Sweets wasn't near them he didn't know where he was and not more than 24 hours ago Sweets was in peril when he was away from them. It wasn't a risk he was willing to take again.

"We have friends, the best in their fields. They can help." Booth rationalized that Cam & Brennan were enough and that Sweets would be best with them instead of here."

The doctor threw his arms in defeat. "Fine. Just sign the papers." He left the room.

"You feel alright Sweets?" Booth asked hoping he had made the right decision. He could tell Sweets wanted to get out of here. The kid was as stubborn as he and if he didn't leave with Booth then he would find a way to leave on his own, which was worse.

"Yeah, I've just got to fill this out." Sweets said looking at the forms again. He was still tired and restless from his dreams and the panic of this morning. Booth though noticed that Sweets signature looked more like vital signs. He looked back at his hand trembling with pen in hand while he tried to concentrate again. Booth wondered why when he saw the dark circles.

"Here kid, let me help." Booth said taking the paper and concentrated and quickly had Sweets name signed and jogged the papers together. Sweets looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Do I want to ask why you know my signature so well?"

Booth smiled. "What you don't know won't hurt you." Booth smiled as though there was a joke he hadn't told Sweets yet.

"Great." Sweets said standing up but the quick transfer to standing made him dizzy. Booth returned but Sweets had already sat back down.

"Whoa, maybe this isn't a good idea." Booth said.

Sweets was irritable at the suggestion. "No!" He rubbed his head. "I'm just hungry is all. I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Oh, right. Okay, we'll get something on the way." Booth said leaving again.

"Uh Booth?" Sweets asked nervously. Booth paused wondering what now. "I don't think I can go…like this…" Sweets pointed to the open backed gown.

"Oh…uh…."

"Got you covered." Riley said stepping back in with a gym bag and smiled. "Just be glad that I packed that this morning and haven't worked out yet today."

Indeed Sweets was glad. He'd had enough of wearing sweaty clothes.

* * *

"So where do we go first?" Riley asked. He wasn't entirely sure if he was chauffer and haberdasher or participating agent.

Booth looked to Sweets almost as though asking Sweets the same thing. Sweets smiled and shrugged, he felt bad just bumming clothes and a ride off the young agent. The exchanged glance suggested they give him a shot at being on the case.

"The Jeffersonian." Booth answered. "Sweets is supposed to be on medical leave. If we show up at the Hoover the deputy director will shit a brick."

"So we're not going to tell the deputy?" Riley asked concerned.

"No, we're going to keep him in the loop we're just going to work out of the office today and fail to mention that Sweets is helping. Besides, Sweets can't show up to work in jogging pants and a sweatshirt anyway." Booth said.

Riley nodded and wondered if Booth always worked outside the lines like this. But he was young and he had much to learn so he looked forward to learning and hoped it didn't involve a suspension.

Booth grinned as he saw the young agent thinking all these things. He glanced back at Sweets who looked pale and despite the AC being on high looked like he was sweating.

"I mean to say that first we go to the Jeffersonian via the diner." Booth said recalling Sweets earlier suggestion he would feel better.

* * *

The three men entered the Jeffersonian netting a look from Cam who stood with her hand on her hip at the sight of Sweets. Brennan offered a raised eyebrow and Hodgins fled from the room.

"I'm very interested to know why Dr. Sweets is here instead of at a qualified medical facility." Cam said once they were in slapping distance.

"Kareat." Booth said and Cam's tone changed as she understood the threat.

"Booth," Brennan said approaching. "I thought you were going to see Sweets, not necessarily bring him to the Jeffersonian."

Sweets eyed a nearby chair and happily rested in it. Cam approached placing a hand on his hand and head having noticed he looked very warm when he arrived.

"You're still very warm Dr. Sweets." She said eying him specutively. "It's not uncommon for people after a heat stroke to be more sensitive to high temperatures for the next week. I'm sure the doctor told you to avoid the heat and exercise for a while."

"Um, yep." Sweets said. What _had _the doctor told him anyway, he wondered.

"What was your temperature when he discharged you?" Cam asked still firing questions. He looked over at Booth who was busy chatting with Brennan and a confused Riley, he couldn't hear Sweets.

"99." Sweets lied.

"Well as long as it's under 100 we're okay, that's could be just a regular reading for you." She said and walked back to Booth. Sweets exhaled but wasn't sure if he should have lied to Cam. He just didn't want them all worrying and eyeing him every few minutes.

"So Kareat has not left the area then." Sweets heard Brennan say now that Cam had stopped talking.

"What about the baby, Anna?" Sweets asked concerned.

"Oh I checked on that Dr. Sweets. She's been moved to a new foster home." Riley said.

Brennan and Sweets exchanged glances. Sweets had gone to quite some lengths to inspect the first foster home. He was hoping this one was just as up to par.

"Perhaps Angela can do some background checks and we can check into the home ourselves later." Brennan suggested. Sweets felt more at ease.

Angela soon appeared and after an explanation of what Sweets was doing at the Jeffersonian instead of the hospital they continued with their conversation.

"So who is this creep guy?" Riley asked.

"Kareat." Brennan corrected him.

"Under the name Allen Barton he went to high school with Sweets." Angela explained. "Sweets got a scholarship he didn't and his life didn't go well for a while after. Then he became a swindling psychic. Now he's come back for revenge on Sweets."

"Why now?" Riley asked.

"Good question." Cam said. "We were working on that but we had to find Sweets in time"

Angela sat down trying to think thru the whole situation. "So Barton hates Sweets for taking his scholarship. Then like ten years later he comes along and kills his wife, her love and tries to kill their baby, in the parking lot where Sweets works and then tries to kill Sweets? All by using another guy who he later kills."

"Yeah that's about it." Booth said.

"Why wait though? What changed?" Cam asked.

They all turned and looked at Sweets.

"How the hell should I know?" He said as they all looked at him. His adrenaline from this morning was fading fast and breakfast wasn't sitting as well with him now that everyone was staring at him for answers.

"Something sure as heck triggered this guy a couple of weeks, or more ago." Angela thought to herself. "I'm going back thru everything I found, see if anything pops out."

Sweets was tired but tried to think, had anything strange, besides the terror of the last Tierney case, stand out? He was tired and closed his eyes. His thoughts were marred with Kareat's voice lulling him into a coffin made him jump suddenly.

"Sweets?" Booth asked concerned. Sweets waved him off.

"Dr. Sweets why don't you rest, in my office." Brennan offered and he readily agreed.

Perhaps in the cool and quiet he could think…


	11. Chapter 11

_So I was deterred but I'm (hopefully) back to normal again. Reviews welcome. Let me know what's fun, what's interesting and if possible, what sucks! But with a smiley face! ;0_

11.

**Booth, Sweets & Riley leave the hospital and head to the Jeffersonian where Cam questions Sweets on how he's doing. He lies about having a near normal temperature (99 instead of the actual 101). The team questions why Kareat has chosen now to come after Sweets and what Kareat's motives are.**

Sweets was sure he wasn't asleep for more than ten seconds when Hodgins woke him up. The clock confirmed it hadn't been more than fifteen minutes. He followed Hodgins to the sitting area, realizing they would have come to Brennan's office though it had been occupied by a resting Sweets.

As he approached the group plus Riley, he saw a face that he recognized but still being in a haze couldn't place just yet. Booth helped him out.

"Sweets, this is Alexander Harris, Phillip Kareat's manager." Booth informed him. "He came to share some information with us, we wanted to wait until you could hear it with us."

Sweets figured that Booth wanted Sweets professional opinion but also appreciated the fact he made sure Sweets was part of the team. He took a cup of coffee offered by Cam. She still worried at how he looked and was actually feeling.

"I've worked with Phillip Kareat for almost four years now." Alexander Harris began and though cool he also exhibited a sense of discomfort. "He was working his way up, he had a talent at reading people and I joined with him to, well make money."

"You think he had some sort of natural talent?" Sweets asked sarcastically.

"No, let me be clearer, Phillip knew the game. I'm not suggesting he has any _qualities_ as far as that goes. I'm saying he knew how to sell it, and sell it he did. Phillip was good looking, he endeared the crowd towards him. I think, for a time now, he's been under the impression I have been under his _spell _if you will, but for me it's been about the money."

"And what's changed now? He skipped out so no money for you?" Booth asked questioning Harris' motives.

Harris smiled. "Isabella was my half-sister." He explained.

"I didn't find any family when I searched for the baby…" Angela began.

"No, we weren't particularly close." Harris explained. "She came along when my mother remarried much later. Still I cared for her, and I didn't truly suspect Philip of anything, well, until today." He cleared his throat as his eyes darkened. "He asked me to go and get her baby back from child services. I have no desire to raise a child, Phillip knew it wasn't his and didn't care for it. You see, Phillip married my sister, I later came to see, as a way to improve his image. At first he was romantic and sweet towards her and then later he lost interest. She began to move on and met Bennett and had a baby and that seemed fine with Phillip, he was driven by his career."

"So what changed?" Brennan asked.

"And why is he after Sweets?" Booth added.

"I think I should start with the second question first." Harris said. "I think I know a little about that, I'm sure Dr. Sweets recalls high school."

Sweets wanted to roll his eyes but he looked at his cup of coffee and nodded.

"Well after high school and being expelled Phillip could not get into another school right away. He went to work at junk yard."

"Yeah we know something about that." Booth said gritting his teeth.

Harris wasn't sure why Booth said it with anger but continued his story. "Well, in that time Phillip began to grow bitter, he told me about how much he hated it. Phillip was smart but he lacked a good deal of discipline and became frustrated. He wanted a better life and he wanted it right away. He felt the only way to know this was a sort of divine intervention. He went to a show, a circus if you will, where he found a reader. He became deeply infatuated with her. After the reading he stayed with her in her traveling band of show people. She was several years his senior but he didn't care, he was absolutely drawn by her. Once the show was ready to leave town, she was gone, she left him flat and left no trace of him to be able to follow her." Harris cleared his throat and looked at Sweets. "Phillip was desperate to find her, when he discovered that Lilian was your birth mother, it drew him to madness that his path crossed with you again."

"Whoa!" Angela exclaimed. "Kareat had a thing with Sweets mom?"

"Birth mom." Sweets immediately corrected. "I've never met her, I couldn't find her myself."

Cam couldn't believe it. "I imagine the feeling of being burned by Sweets, in some capacity, made him…"

"It drove him nearly insane." Harris explained. "In order to build Phillip's career I needed to know his past, to build a biography from it." He shook his head. "After hearing it I told him to bury his past and we would start over, which is why 'Phillip Kareat' has no past. I'm afraid though that he never forgot about Dr. Sweets though. He constantly wanted to know what he was doing, and how he was doing."

"Like a competition?" Booth asked.

"Yes, quite." Harris said. "I believe that drove him to marry and have a family, he wanted to succeed in an area where Dr. Sweets had, yet to, uh, find the same. He soon found married life to be an annoyance and brushed Isabella aside. At the time I didn't mind because she was happier without Phillip and Phillip still made good money."

"So when she was found dead, you didn't suspect Kareat." Hodgins said finding it difficult to believe.

"I knew Phillip was an ass but I didn't suspect that he was a psycho." Harris said defensively. "I knew he wasn't where you said he was when the murders happened so I had no reason to suspect."

"What about Jon Smith?" Booth asked.

"Who?" Harris asked and Booth wondered if Harris could have known about Smith or not, it was possible he did not – Kareat would have wanted to keep Harris out of too much knowledge of his sister.

"What did he want with the baby?" Angela asked.

"I don't know." Harris said letting out a breath. "But I knew it couldn't be good. He wanted the baby, but he didn't want to tell me where he was. He kept calling me from different phone numbers."

"Probably burner cells." Cam proposed.

"We have a show tonight, a big one, and for the first time, Phillip wasn't more interested in a show than finding that baby. Something didn't seem right." Harris explained.

"And why not hand her over?" Booth asked. "Won't this hurt your career with him?"

"Phillip may be a monster, but I am not." Harris answered defensively.

"How do we know you're not lying, working with him still?" Brennan asked.

"He doesn't pay me well enough to implicate myself in murder." Harris explained again.

"Okay but I still don't understand, what set this all off, the murders, two weeks ago?" Hodgins asked.

"He found her, Lilian. He had spent years tracking her down and in his mind he had built up the idea that she had been pulled away from him, unwillingly. In reality it seems Lilian is just a traveling soul and a sense of permanency doesn't fit." He was thinking aloud in terms of Kareat but he suddenly realized how it applied to Sweets and seemed embarrassed. He cleared his throat.

"You see, Phillip had built his career as a psychic based on his love and relationship with Lilian. As their affair, though short, took off, she entranced him with the notion of telling him his future, she taught him a few things that would spark an interest in reading. I think in his mind he thought they would reunite and embark upon a successful career as a duo. When he approached her, she rejected him."

"How do you mean?" Cam asked.

"She blew him off." Harris explained. "You see, she meant the world to him but she hardly remembered him. When he came to her and she didn't care, he said he knew where her son was. It sparked an interest to her, but she said no more. As she left he said that the love for a son was greater than the temporary love of a man who was a dime a dozen. Phillip was furious and I thought he would blow off steam. He had been following with great interest the case in the papers, the Tierney girl and the Falcon being found? He grumbled about the success that Dr. Sweets had, not just as a successful psychologist but now as a successful crime fighter of sorts. It was too much for him I guess."

"He left the bodies in the car, at the FBI." Hodgins mused. "He wanted Sweets attention."

"He got it." Sweets said sipping his coffee. "Question is, what now?"

"Well, we're not handing over the baby." Angela said to make that point clear.

"I don't mean to sound cruel, but I don't want the baby, it should have a good home. Question is, if Phillip has killed these people, or played a role in it, how can you catch him?" Harris asked.

Riley's phone rang and he jumped to step out to take the call. Booth turned to Sweets to see if he had any ideas. He could practically see the psychologists' wheels turning.

"Kareat has an enormous ego." Sweets said. "He can't stay in hiding."

"What about his show tonight?" Booth asked. "Do you think he will show?"

"If not I need to cancel." Harris said. "Oh, the costs." He said rubbing his head.

"Don't cancel." Sweets said. Booth could tell Sweets was developing a plan. "The show must go on." He said with a smile. Booth had to grin at the fact that few things made it past Sweets' brilliant mind.

Sweets set down his coffee cup and stood up, he was on a roll now. "I'll bet that Kareat is highly unstable, if he's going after the baby then he is desperate for our attention."

"You mean _your _attention." Angela corrected.

"Does he know Sweets survived the, uh, incident?" Hodgins asked.

"I would say so or he's wouldn't go after the baby." Booth suggested.

"How though?" Brennan asked. "As per FBI protocol he was under a different name at the hospital."

"Well, he knows." Sweets said moving past that. "He is trying to draw me out, but we are going to draw him out instead." Sweets turned to Harris. "Tonight's show, I need you to get it out that Kareat is sick and won't be on tonight but that an even _better _psychic reader is going to fill in for him."

"And who is that?" Brennan asked not following.

"Me." Sweets said and turned to Angela. "Angela, can you work up some stuff and get it online about how great I am, make up some name, a whole bio."

"How does this help?" Cam asked.

"Kareat has a huge ego, he won't tolerate another person taking his spot, especially if he can suspect that person is me." Sweets explained.

"If that's the case then we're working up better security." Booth said looking around for Riley who was still on the phone.

"Don't answer Kareat when he calls." Sweets told Harris. "It will drive him more to want to come to the show."

"Sure thing." Harris agreed as Riley returned with news that the director wanted an update. He said he had done the best he could to leave Sweets' name out of the update.

"Well I'll get going." Harris said. "Much to do."

Riley turned to follow Harris but Booth stopped him.

"Don't you want me to stay on him if Kareat shows up?" Riley asked.

"No, we're working security detail on the theater tonight." Booth said. "Come on let's get to work."

Booth left with Riley, Harris left to set up the show, Angela went to set up a background online for Sweets psychic persona in case anyone who questioned the change in the show's star spurred anyone to look up any information.

Sweets sat back down having felt a bit like he had been bit by a truck, or maybe it was just locked in a trunk. He wanted to laugh but couldn't find his own intended humor. He had a couple of hours to figure one thing out, could he outwit Kareat at being a phony?


	12. Chapter 12

12.

_Wesley, I didn't see the Lilian connection coming. It just came to me on Sunday. As per about every story I write I do it on a wing and a prayer and hope I figure out an end and tie it to the beginning in hopes it all works out. And thanks for the heads up on she's and he's. I typed that bit from a hospital waiting room so I may have been a bit distracted. Now! Onto the showdown…_

**Harris (Kareat's manager) shows up to explain the reason behind Kareat's intensified hatred towards Sweets which involves a love affair and subsequent fall out in that relationship with another psychic, Sweets mom. Sweets & team decide that that only way to draw out Kareat, who is in hiding, is for Sweets to fill in for Kareat's show that night, hoping his ego won't be able to bear his enemy doing his job for him.**

Some people may find wedding dresses to be the most beautiful and comfortable of clothing. Others may discover the comfort and flexibility of a Lycra superhero costume with a flowing cape to be the utmost in confidence and destiny fulfillment. Sweets preferred a suit. A well-fitting, sharp, dark in color with a tie that popped and pulled it all in type of suit. He felt professional, handsome and above all, confident in a suit. The suit's sharp lapels and pressed lines on his tall frame suggested a commanding presence, people in suits were to be respected and in a good suit, impressive. Sweets sat before the dressing room lights and adjusted his tie a last time, the voice of his father reminding him not to fuss.

"You look good kid." Booth said causing Sweets to turn 180 degrees to face Booth standing behind him.

Sweets smiled to himself. He liked the dark suit, the white button down and electric blue tie, but the layers however made him feel hot and flush. He knew the doctor had warned against a sensitivity to heat but his head was still swirling and he felt sick to his stomach.

"Dr. Sweets are you sure this is a good idea?" Cam asked having walked by and noticing his condition she had been silently monitoring.

"We need to get Kareat." Sweets said hoping she didn't notice he was wiping a strain of sweat from his forehead, which of course she did.

"But not if the costs are too high." She warned.

Sweets smiled. "I'm fine, thank you Dr. Soroyan." To end the conversation he added, "what time is it?" He knew it was near time to begin.

"Five minutes to show time." She said and headed to the booth where Angela & Hodgins were as well. She knew she could monitor his suspicious health on the many cameras there.

Sweets headed to the stage where he found Booth surveying the audience from backstage.

"Kareat?" Sweets asked.

"Not yet. You're sure he'll come?" Booth asked.

"I'd bet my life on it." Sweets promised. Booth didn't care to agree to the wager but Sweets was already stepping into the theater as Harris made the announcement.

The audience welcomed Sweets who smiled a broad and boyish grin the crowd ate up.

"Good evening everyone." He said as he waved to them. "But then we all know it's going to be a good evening right?" Sweets kidded and they all laughed along.

As they did so Sweets looked over the audience and picked out a few people he thought might be easy to use. First he decided to start with the shotgun technique.

"We're all here tonight because we feel a connection that we may have lost, we need to find it again, have a little closure. Who doesn't want closure right?" Sweets said and quickly saw 90% of the heads nod affirmatively. _Geez this is gonna be easy _he said to himself.

He decided to go ahead and jump in, no preparation needed. "Who's Margaret?" He asked and looked around after he had acted like he had a revelation. He held out his hands as though he were feeling for an invisible line to pull him towards someone. When the faces seemed to decide if they knew one strongly enough or not Sweets went further, a derivative of Margaret, "I'm feeling as though she went by Peggy."

A woman gasped and Sweets hand went in her direction as soon as she made the sound.

"Hey there." Sweets said with a big smile. The woman liked him immediately, it was hard to not smile when that mega watt smiled was close to you. "Do you want to talk about Peggy?"

The middle aged woman nodded with tears forming in her eyes. Sweets felt a pain, a tightening in his chest – he didn't like doing this, he wanted to talk about real feelings, not this crap, but he had to. Sweets realized that this was going to be harder than he thought. He felt his breath shorten and he felt hot again.

"You loved Peggy, but there was a problem." He said fishing.

"Yes." The woman said, too choked up to continue, it didn't give Sweets enough to go by.

"I sense a strong sense of loss." Sweets said knowing that it could be either financial or health.

"Yes, she died." The woman squeaked out.

Sweets took her hand and brushed it in calming strokes. "And you didn't feel that things were finished, closure."

The woman's eyes flashed open in surprise. "Oh yes!" She shouted.

"It's important to know that she loved you very much." Sweets said. He had no idea, she could have been a horrible person, he wanted schedule some time with her and talk about the real issue here but he had to repress every urge to do so. Sweets cleared his throat, it wasn't just lying to someone that bothered him, his throat was dry again and he wasn't feeling well. He smiled at the woman, digging a little deeper to get thru his _performance_.

"She loved you and it's important to put your past behind you and focus on a bright future." Sweets stood up to go to another audience member trying hard to hide his sway.

"That wasn't very convincing!" A voice shouted from the back. Sweets knew there was always a scoffer in every audience.

"Perhaps you would like to try." He said taking a sip of water, garnering a laugh from the audience. He knew the believers outnumbered the others, not that that may have been a good thing.

"Then read me." A voice suggested and Sweets turned to see Dr. Brennan standing up in her seat where she had sat as a possible plant.

"Sure." Sweets said sitting down the cup of water and turned to Dr. Brennan. He looked at her and studied her. He knew she would go along with whatever he said.

"You're married, and you're deeply in love with that man you are with." He said.

Brennan smiled, she knew she couldn't even pretend to deny that.

"Yes, that is correct." She looked at Sweets, she wanted to make the performance for tantalizing. "I've have three questions. If you are who you say you are then you will know what they are."

The audience "oohed" at the challenge.

Sweets turned to look at Brennan with narrowed eyes, she gave nothing away. He had no idea if she was making this up or serious. He decided to go along with it as though it were real.

"The first is a secret I have kept from my friends. The second is something I am ashamed that I did and the third is, is I'm not sure how to tell someone something that is important."

"Is this secret something from your past?" He asked.

"You should know." She challenged.

"The mind is a large and expansive place. I can navigate only so far." Sweets said to the audience who nodded but not convincingly. Sweets looked to Brennan who wasn't throwing him a line. Sweets watched her as she said it, he knew when people were lying and she wasn't making this up. He knew what she thought of psychology, he wondered if this was to prove a point. He nodded now thinking maybe this wasn't so much a ploy as a real challenge.

"Let's start with what you are ashamed of." Sweets said turning away from her, his mind racing. "This was quite some time ago." He ventured.

"Yes." Brennan said almost surprised.

"You were in college." He said again.

She nodded, she had assumed he was throwing darts hoping she would have to lead him, she was genuinely surprised.

"You cheated on one of your college exams." Sweets said as Brennan's jaw dropped.

"Yes." She said.

Sweets smiled. "I'm sure you had reasons. You were probably exhausted from other work."

Brennan smiled and Sweets knew he was right but he wasn't going to make her say it. He took another drink of water, Cam noticed the sweat on his brow again and a slight waver in one of his steps.

"Your secret." Sweets said turning to look at her. He smiled.

"Should I tell my friends?" She asked, slightly nervous.

"Congratulations, when are you due?" Sweets said with a smile. The audience clapped and Brennan's eyes widened.

Cam, Hodgins and Angela all looked to each other.

"Is she serious?" Hodgins asked.

"She's Brennan, she's always serious." Angela said.

On the other end of the studio Booth smiled. _So that's how you wanted to tell them Bones? _ He wondered to himself.

"I'm going to say boy." Sweets added as the audience clapped.

"Technically it is too soon in the development to…" Brennan said and stopped to smile. "That would be nice."

"The last question." Sweets said back to business. He had deduced that Brennan's incident of being ashamed was from her younger days and being one of the few things she did was study, it must be with school. That and the fact that one night and many drinks at the Four Fathers she had told him the story but she obviously had no memory of it. As far as the baby went, he had noticed the glow two weeks ago but waited until she said something, he had no intention of stealing her thunder. The last however, as impressed as the audience was, he had no clue on.

"The last question, how to tell someone something that is important." Sweets mused. "This person is close to you, a loved one?"

"I care for him very much." She said.

_Not Booth. Phew, I didn't want to step into that one. _"A close friend." Sweets ventured figuring there were few secrets between her and Max.

"Yes, a very close friend." Brennan confirmed. Sweets mused what she would not have told Angela.

"You can tell this friend nearly everything, but not this."

"I find it very easy to talk with him, but this came about recently." She said, her eyes softening.

_Him?! What the hell? Hodgins? What the hell would she need to tell Hodgins?_

"Your friend nearly died recently." Sweets said and Brennan nodded as her lips curled and her head tilted to the side in an endearing pose. The audience clapped that he was right again.

"You're afraid that he doesn't know that you care about him." Sweets said and Brennan confirmed so with her eyes that began to glisten.

"He knows." Sweets said and the audience clapped.

Sweets wanted to mull over everything that just happened with Brennan when he realized short of breakfast this morning he hadn't eaten in two days and yet he was feeling like was about to throw up, that was if he didn't catch on fire, he felt like he was going to. _Where the hell is Kareat, why didn't she show, if I bet my life on this, I'm about to lose that wager, quite literally._

"What's he doing?" Hodgins said as Sweets continued to look around.

"I don't think that Dr. Sweets is completely over his head stroke." Cam said.

"Yeah but the doctors said…" Angela began.

"I'm beginning to think Dr. Sweets took creative liberty in relaying what the doctors actually said." Cam said watching intently on the screen where she could see the camera follow Sweets. She could also see him live on the stage but the camera allowed for a closer view.

Sweets cleared his throat. "I think there is someone here who needs to get something off his chest. Someone who has felt wronged." A few people raised their hands. "Someone who I personally wronged." The audience sat quiet and stunned. Sweets looked around but no one moved. He bit his lip, he considered going to back to a few more regular readings but he wasn't sure he was going to last much longer. He _knew _Kareat was here somewhere, he had to draw him out.

"You know I was adopted." Sweets said looking around. "I'll bet a few people are here too right?" The audience had a few members who nodded. "It's great to be adopted by such loving people. But it's even better when you can be brought _into _the world by truly wonderful people. You see, my mother, my birth mother was a wonderful person, truly, deeply wonderful and caring. I'm sure some of you have people like that in your lives." Sweets said. "My mother, Lilian, she was generous and loving, she had connections with people that were undying. It just killed her to give me up, but she did what she had to do. She can't let people go."

"Well that proves you're full of crap." An old man said standing up towards the back. He walked a few feet towards the front. It wasn't who Sweets was expecting. "You should know better than to speak like that if you were legitimate." The smile though shone thru the disguise. Sweets smiled back at Kareat, _game on._


	13. Chapter 13

13.

**Sweets is taking Kareat's place in the psychic performance. After some time, he has been able to draw Kareat out though he is increasingly not feeling well.**

"You don't look well." Kareat said dressed as an old man. "Been under the weather lately?"

"A psychic's work is never done." Sweets countered back.

* * *

Booth and Harris smiled at each other, _finally_ Booth said to himself upon Kareat stepping forward. He turned to make a call but heard a noise. He looked back around and was met with a blunt object. Booth fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

* * *

"Well then tell me Mr. Psychic, if you're so good why are you on this second rate circuit?" Kareat pushed at Sweets. Sweets saw the audience take offense to the statement.

"I go where I am needed and this country isn't about rating our citizens, perhaps you should travel to a monarchy." Sweets spat and the audience cheered.

"Go where you are needed huh?" Kareat said. "Are you needed at the FBI?"

Sweets wondered how far he should stay undercover. "I use my talents in helping various people."

"But do they really want you there?" Kareat posed and Sweets realized what Kareat was trying to do, pick at Sweets own insecurities.

"Yes, I do believe that my services are valued there." Sweets said.

"Well, by some sure, but there are others who do not believe in your….skills." Kareat looked over his shoulder at Brennan who looked unsure of what to do.

Sweets considered how to answer. "Anyone can become a believer." He offered.

Brennan wanted to say something but she didn't want to compromise the situation. Kareat hadn't implicated himself so far and Sweets knew it. He would have to keep him talking. Brennan slipped out the back of the theater to find Booth. She hoped he knew what to do, if she should intervene or not.

"What about yourself?" Sweets asked drawing Kareat's attention away from the departing Dr. Brennan. "I see you as a man who has failed at your many adventures."

Kareat's eyes flared with anger.

"You're not educated, not in the collegiate sense are you?" Sweets said and the audience gave an "oh damn!" sound. Sweets wanted to anger Kareat into saying something he wouldn't realize he would say.

"No, I'm a blue collar working man." Kareat said earning claps from some of the audience. "You though, you're one of those guys who is big know it all's aren't you? Tell me, I doubt you had many friends in high school did you, probably got pushed into lockers by the cool kids huh?"

Sweets swallowed hard and pushed the claustrophobic memory out of his mind. "I don't think I would classify bullies as cool kids'." Sweets turned so he could wipe the sweat from his brow without Kareat seeing. He was sweating but within his suit he was trying to hide a shiver.

"I worked my way out of a junkyard to be a success." Kareat threw at Sweets.

"Tell me sir, how do you measure success?" Sweets asked, he realized he now sounded more the psychologist and less the psychic. He felt more comfortable in this role.

Kareat wondered what Sweets was getting it as he produced an answer. "A beautiful wife, a great career, it's the American dream."

Sweets nodded his head and rubbed his chin. "Not things like happiness, the ability to give back, to be part of something larger than yourself?"

"What like solving crimes?" Kareat asked. "You enjoy working with dead people?"

"Sometimes more than the living ones." Sweets said locking eyes with Kareat.

* * *

Brennan walked into the booth and found Hodgins, Angela & Cam and the newly joined in, Caroline Julian.

"Caroline, what are you doing here?" Brennan asked.

"I'm late but I'm here now, trying to find grounds to arrest this piece of crap on." Caroline said. "Dr. Sweets needs to stop dancing round with him and get him to incriminate himself."

"I think we've known Sweets long enough to know he's working on it." Hodgins suggested.

Cam flinched at something.

"Cam what's up?" Brennan asked coming to stand next to her.

Cam sighed. "Don't you notice that about every 15th word or so Sweets slurs?"

Brennan listened closely along with the others.

"I do now." Angela said. "I guess I was so busy listening more to the pretty mean stuff that Kareat was saying."

"What are you saying Cam?" Brennan asked.

"There." She said pointing. "See how he swayed. And his right hand is increasingly trembling. Dr. Sweets is not well."

Brennan became more concerned. "I'm going to find Booth."

"But we haven't got Kareat yet." Caroline objected.

"I'm not going to endanger Dr. Sweets' health in order to get Kareat, we'll figure out a way to get him." Brennan said leaving before Caroline could stop her, not that she had particularly planned to.

* * *

"You said that you had a beautiful wife." Sweets said sticking his right hand in his pocket. He couldn't get it to stop vibrating or get his heart to stop racing though he tried to mask both. "I think this woman's name was Lilian." Sweets said playing faux psychic.

Kareat knew Sweets knew Isabella and knew this was his latest button to push. "Yes, she is beautiful." Kareat said. "Her looks - she didn't pass on to her offspring. He turned out geeky and lanky."

"Well we should always look to the inner beauty." Sweets said undeterred. "Lilian, though, she didn't really return your love did she? That must have been hard to handle."

"Lilian doesn't love a lot of people." Kareat said locking eyes with Sweets again. "She casts a lot of people aside. At least she kept me a little longer, had use for me."

"Sometimes though." Sweets said clearing his throat after he realized he had slurred the first word. "Sometimes it's best if you truly love something, to give him a better life, one you can't give. Did you not see that in Lilian?"

The audience clapped, Sweets had nearly forgotten them but the intermittent claps or sounds of approval or disapproval brought him back in to this reality. Their reactions had been based off a performance not having any real idea of what was going on. Sweets repressed the urge to want to analyze that.

"Lilian was a travelling whore." Kareat spat. Sweets didn't know his birth mother but he wanted to punch Kareat.

"Not everyone can take rejection well." Sweets said. "It can drive some people to overcompensate, blame others for his own unhappiness."

"Being a whiz kid must have been overcompensating."

"Intelligence is not something to be ashamed of." Sweets warned.

"You have a lot of friends, I guess that's what they are, no wait, coworkers." Kareat said with a smile having corrected himself. "It must be hard to be the only one who doesn't have someone. It must make you feel a bit damaged huh? Is intelligence enough to keep you warm at night?" Kareat said.

Sweets wasn't going to lie - that hurt. He was well aware of the fact out of everyone, he was the only one unable to hold a steady and serious relationship, and that most of that was on his desire to not settle down.

"I have blankets." Sweets said. "I am quite warm at night."

Kareat wanted to say something but stopped. "It's not nice to be too warm is it?"

* * *

"There!" Angela said.

"Not specific enough." Caroline interrupted. "But Sweets is pushing, if he can just push hard enough."

"And not crash before then." Cam said with worry woven in each word.

* * *

Brennan had looked where Booth told her he was going to be but found no one. She went down one hall and nearly tripped over something. She looked down at the dark suit to find a body. She rolled it over and saw the dead open eyes of Harris, Kareat's manager. She stood up to get help and ran directly into Agent Riley.

"Oh Riley! Harris, he's dead." She said pointing.

Riley shook his head. "Dammit, I've been looking for him. I think Kareat has someone working for him."

"We need to find Booth." Brennan said.

"Sure, he's this way." Riley said leading her down a hall. "How's it going on stage?"

"Dr. Sweets is working to incriminate Kareat."

"Yeah when he shows."

"Wait!" Brennan said as the hall got darker. "You're the one who's working for Kareat!"

"What?" Riley asked in shock. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, it makes sense, you were on the scene when Sweets arrived to find the baby, you could keep tabs on Sweets for Kareat, you're the one feeding him Sweets' every move!" Brennan shouted. Riley's shocked smiled faded into a smile.

"You don't understand Dr. Brennan, after my wife died, Mr. Kareat helped me, he's so incredible, he showed me how to live my life." Riley professed.

Brennan shook her head as she thought of everything real that Sweets could have given him instead.

"Now time to join your husband!" Riliey said and Brennan turned to see Booth unconscious on the floor behind her.

Riley lunged towards her but she pushed him away, the silencer falling from his hand but he rushed forward towards her again.

* * *

"I can stand the heat." Sweets said in answer to Kareat's comment. "I've withstood it before, I can again."

Kareat smiled as Sweets will may have suggested such but the beads of sweat on his forehead couldn't hide.

"For being warm you seem to have a shiver." Kareat said. Sweets wanted to slap himself for providing a tell. "Perhaps you'd like my jacket." Kareat said about to take it off.

"No thank you." Sweets said stepping back. "I think you should keep it, you might need it." He cleared his throat, this needed to end and soon, only his mind was failing him.

"Tell me." Kareat began. "Why did you think you would be successful at this charade?"

"It's all about helping people." Sweets said, starting to feel unsure of himself as exhaustion was starting to set in. "Why did you get into it?"

It was like two prize fighters standing in a ring, one with one knee on the mat still swinging and the other gloating.

"Why does anyone get into any career? Money!" Kareat shouted. The audience made no noise. "What are you going to tell me, that if you had a private practice that you wouldn't charge?"

"If a patient couldn't pay I wouldn't turn him away." Sweets said.

"Bullshit. You'd be out of business." Kareat said circling Sweets like easy prey.

"Is corrupt business a business to truly be in?" Sweets asked, his breath was short and it hurt to speak now. "Does swindling people improve your life?"

"It improves my pocket book." Kareat said. "Besides, I don't place any false hopes in friends. Maybe you should have spent more time being a psychic than a psychiatrist."

"No thanks." Sweets said in a voice barely over a whisper.

Kareat's grin widened, he was a bully moving in for the kill, regardless of how the prey was beaten down he would take a shot, cheap or otherwise.

"Tell me, what's it like to have your best friend lock you in tight space and leave you for dead?"

Sweets dark brown eyes infused with red vessels met Kareat's with a cold hard stare. "Better than when an enemy does."

"He doesn't care." Kareat said in a conversation close enough only the two of them could hear. "None of them do."

"Now," Sweets said with a voice that threatened to fail him. "If you were a real psychic you would know that isn't true."

Kareat took a step back, he was sure he would be able to rock the psychologist on that issue, but it wasn't working. _Dammit, why doesn't he give out by now? What's he running on?_

* * *

"What is taking Brennan so long, I figured she'd have come back with Booth by now." Hodgins said looking to the door.

"Damn," Angela said angry. "Kareat just figured out what Sweets is sweating."

"He's trying to move in for a kill." Caroline said now nervous for Sweets.

"And Sweets doesn't look like he's going to last much longer." Angela said nervously.

Cam had enough and turned to leave the booth. She entered the studio in the back and paused when she saw a woman standing by the door as Cam nearly ran into her.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Cam said turning away from the woman and looked back at the two sparring in the center of the room.

"He's remarkable isn't he?" The woman asked.

"For a coward and murder I suppose…" Cam said shaking her head.

"What? No, no the younger man with the brown hair and the expressive eyes. It's like you can see the whole world in those big eyes, both happy and sad." She explained.

"Oh, yes, yes he is." Cam said eying Sweets who over the years she had grown fond of.

"I hoped he would have been more though, than a psychic." The woman said, a certain sadness in her eyes that Cam could feel her radiating the sadness over that assumption.

"He isn't." She said blowing Sweets cover that was going to be opened soon anyway she figured. "He's undercover, an agent and profiler for the FBI as well as a psychologist."

The woman's eyes glistened and Cam felt something familiar about them.

"He helps a lot of people, he's a good man." Cam explained further and smiled. "I probably shouldn't have told you that but I can see the resemblance, Lilian right?"

The woman smiled as a tear formed in the corner of her eye but refused to fall. "Don't tell him I came." She gave Cam a smile and walked out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

_Much to my surprise, I do not own Bones._

_Sorry for the gap in updates and the possibly discombobulated nature of the story in the last week. The medical situation (not me personally) made for a challenging week and just getting back to "normal" routine now._

* * *

14.

**Sweets and Kareat face off while the others watch helplessly in the booth as Sweets' health continues to deteriorate before them. Brennan goes to find Booth to intervene when she finds Harris dead, Booth knocked out cold and discovers that Riley is in cahoots with Kareat. Unable to stand it any longer, Cam leaves the booth to stop Sweets in the studio when she encounters Lilian who proves to be proud of her son, though continues her absence in his life.**

Booth's head was pounding as he heard voices, but they weren't regular voices – they were grunting and arguing. He rubbing his aching and bleeding temple only to see Brennan struggling with a long bar that Riley was pressing down against her despite her reluctance to allow it. Booth didn't know what had happened but he knew that anyone did that to his wife was going to get it.

Booth was on his wobbly feet and charged at Riley and within one swift kick and a punch to the face Riley was seeing stars. Booth cuffed him and with Brennan's explanation soon figured out what he had yet to spot any of their "undercover" backups in the audience that night – Riley had never actually called any.

Booth was calling it in when Brennan brought her other concern to his attention.

"Booth, we should get to the stage." She said, her beautiful eyes sparked with worry.

"Did we get Kareat?" He asked.

"No, Sweets is trying, but something is wrong with Sweets."

Brennan didn't need to say more, Booth was leading the way.

* * *

Booth was at the opposite end of the stage when he and Brennan locked glances with Cam who was on the opposite side, Sweets and Kareat between them. Booth immediately saw what Brennan meant in the young psychologist who was pale, sweaty and swaying on his feet despite his solid attempts to appear otherwise. Whatever Kareat had said quietly to Sweets had obviously bothered him but he was countering back with something just as softly. Both sets of spectators were about to step forward when they paused at Kareat's words.

"Give up Lance." Kareat said seething venom. He could tell Sweets was near collapse but for reasons unknown to Kareat he wasn't giving in. "What are you still standing here for, no one has hope in you. You're only a burden to your coworkers always having to come and save you."

Booth was ready to deck Kareat when Sweets' dark eyes narrowed in on his nemesis.

Sweets attempted to clear his throat. "That's what friends are for, to save each other."

His friends smiled at the fact that Sweets finally accepted them as friends without strings.

Sweets straightened his stature, now taller than Kareat as he made his last stand. "And I may be alone, but I'm never lonely, a space is a space, no matter where it is." Sweets no longer cared of being shoved in cramped spaces, he wanted a kill as he stepped towards Kareat, near nose to nose. "I have what you can never have - happiness despite difficulty. It may not be the sparkling kind of picture perfect happiness, but it is fulfilling to be part of a team, and that is something you will never have - because you have robbed _yourself _of it."

Kareat boiled as the men stood inches from each other, Kareat aware of the fact Sweets was now looking _down _at him.

"I bet you cried like a baby to Booth after Jon locked you in that trunk."

Sweets smiled. "Who's Jon and what trunk?"

Kareat's smiled faded as Booth was pulling his hands behind his back slapping the cuffs on. Booth leaned in to speak in Kareat's ear. "Sweets was nothing but brave on the phone, you however, will be crying quite a bit in prison."

The audience sat stunned and confused if this was part of the show or something more serious. Sweets watched Kareat leave in handcuffs with Booth but he failed to smile. While Kareat was not a care in the world to him now he didn't like seeing people's lives wrecked by their own designs, potential wasted.

The stairs in Sweets vision moved to the left and to the right and he felt a chill though his shirts were stuck to him under his suit in a pool of sweat.

"Dr. Sweets," Cam said approaching, "that was remarkable, I don't know how you got him to say it."

"Yes, I wasn't sure if it was going to be forthcoming or not." Brennan said and Sweets tried to smile, it felt like there was a compliment buried in there somewhere.

Their appreciation of his skills and surprise of finally incriminating Kareat was giving way as fast as Sweets was paling.

"Dr. Sweets?" Cam asked. Sweets turned at a pace that proved to be too quick and the room spun violently. He reached an arm out automatically to steady himself hoping to grab a chair put Brennan's tight grip caught it first steadying him.

"I'm fine." He said trying to shake it off and eyed a door. "Just need some fresh air."

As Cam stepped forward she could _feel _the head radiating off him. She put a hand to his face and pulled it back, looking at Brennan.

"He's burning up." Cam said and looked back at Sweets discerningly. "I thought you said your temperature was declining."

"Um, yeah." Sweets said not hearing all of the question. "Sorry about that." He said as the room got darker and the audience gasped.

* * *

"Goo-Goo!" Sweets said with a big smile on his face. Baby Anna smiled back up at him. "She likes me." Sweets confirmed proudly to Booth and Brennan who stood back smiling at him.

"Well good luck little one." Sweets said handing the baby back to the child services woman, Mrs. Vance. He tried to reach back for his chair quick enough for no one to notice but few things go past Booth as he pulled Sweets rolling office chair close but didn't add comment to the fact he did. Sweets silently glad as well.

"While it's not standard routine to do this, I was glad to do so based on the circumstances." Mrs. Vance said holding the baby. "Without you, Anna may have lost her life - twice."

"And she's being placed in a good home?" Brennan asked for the third time.

"Yes, Agent Booth has run an extremely extensive background search on the couple who have adopted her." Mrs. Vance assured them. "We should be going, her new life awaits."

"Thank you, for bringing her by." Brennan said pausing her as she left. "I think it meant a lot to Dr. Sweets."

Sweets looked up at Brennan with a smile and a nod. Mrs. Vance left and the trio were left.

"Now Dr. Sweets," Booth mocked while sitting on the couch with Brennan. "Shall we discuss your series of ill decisions?"

Sweets rolled his eyes which gave him only a minor headache this time.

"Yes, it was a very poor decision to keep how you were really feeling from us." Brennan said clinically. "The means may have justified the ends - this time - but it could have been at too great of a risk."

"She's right Sweets, you should have told us you were still sick." Booth joined in on the guilt trip.

"Guys I…" Sweets said and found himself lost on the words to say.

Brennan tried to fill them in for him, "Well next time…"

"Next time?" Booth interrupted her. "Let's not have a next time, I don't know if my ticker can take a _next time_."

Sweets didn't like causing his friends grief but something inside him was glad that they cared so much that it did.

"Well sounds like I'm glued to my desk the next few weeks anyway." Sweets said looking at his chair.

"Yeah I'm not too crazy about you returning to work, but the plus side is at least I can keep an eye on you here." Booth said.

"Based on Dr. Sweets behaviors of the recent past we know he would just ignore proper medical advice anyway." Brennan said and Sweets wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or observational.

"Well I'm not so sure that the quick check they did on him that night was enough." Booth said thinking back to when he walked back in the studio after putting Kareat in a recently arrived police vehicle. He had walked back on to find a near unconscious Sweets leaning against the seat and for the second time in 48 hours thought he had lost his friend.

"Well the doctors assured us with proper hydration and rest he would recover." Brennan said, also thinking back to that night when Sweets was eventually discharged and sent home.

Sweets recalled that evening of insisting on going home and while he was in his own apartment is seemed like forever until anyone would go home, lingering until he was asleep and yet when he got up out of bed he found Cam sitting and reading on his couch. While the truth was he was bored and home and married to his work he retuned perhaps sooner than he should but he found greater comfort around his friends that his apartment. He wondered idly if that was why he was really married to his work, that's where his friends were, though he seemed to see them in the hours after work in recent days as well.

"Alright," Booth said seeing Sweets eyes drift off so he nudged Brennan to get up. "Well if you get tired, you'd better lie down right?" Booth said in a stern reminder and pointed to the couch.

Sweets nodded and smiled that he would oblige as necessary but something sprung to his mind. "Hey, how did the arraignment go?"

Booth knew Sweets was referring to Kareat whose arraignment was that morning. "With what Caroline's got on him he pled guilty hoping for a lighter sentence. That's determined later. He thought he might wiggle out of it but when Angela found all the texts and correspondence with Jon Smith cementing his implication with Kareat he changed his plea to guilty."

Upon seeing his expression Brennan was confused. "That's good news Dr. Sweets." She explained.

He nodded. "Yeah, I just… I don't know." Sweets yawned and Booth pulled Brennan towards the door.

"We'll be back later Sweets, we'll go to lunch." Booth promised. "You can buy this time."

Sweets nodded yes whether he knew what he was agreeing to or not.

Out in the hall Brennan turned a confused face towards Booth.

"I don't understand, why wasn't Sweets happy about Kareat going to jail?" She asked.

Booth wondered for two people so similar as she and Sweets how they sometimes did not see clearly on other things. "Because Sweets isn't about revenge." Booth explained to his intelligent wife who lacked certain skills about interpersonal relationships and the human psyche. "Sweets believes that everyone is worth saving. By Kareat ruining his own life and rotting in jail makes Sweets feels like he's failed."

"But Sweets had no real hand in Kareat's demise, if anything he is the victim and should not feel responsible." Brennan said still not understanding.

Booth tried to explain again, "Sweets doesn't think in terms of himself, he thinks about the big picture and the overall good. It's why he would sacrifice his own health to catch the bad guy."

Brennan considered this. "Then we will need to keep an eye on Dr. Sweets to be sure that he takes care of himself."

Booth smiled at his wife who didn't realize that her concerns during the ordeals was _exactly_ what she _had _been doing.

"Yes. Just like he watches out for us." Booth added and this time, Brennan understood.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed. As always please let me know what you think, like, didn't like etc it helps give me an idea of what is enjoyable. I've got another story in mind I can write if there is interest. I'll keep writing as long as people enjoy reading. :)_


	15. Chapter 15

_If you haven't been following along completely (shame on you! :) ) here are some other sweet stories by….me! So out of curiosity, if you've read them all, what's your favorite?_

The Mist in the Box (my first one!) - Sweets is inflicted by a mysterious poison

The Title in the Story - Sweets takes Brennan's place when a killer makes Booth choose, he ends up being cut up some.

The Sequel to the Story - Sequel to the above when Sweets is still haunted by the feeling that Booth would not have chosen him. We meet Emma, Sweets new secretary with a complicated past and a serial killer from the grave - Pelant.

The Question to the Answer - Sweets & Emma date, return of the past for Sweets with torture.

The Car in the Lake - Sweets seems to be sick but won't tell anyone.

The Explosive in the Situation - Sweets involved in an explosion.

The Psychologist in the Institution - Sweets gets maliciously admitted to an asylum and endures electro-shock therapy.

The Chill in the Air - Tracking down a killer, Sweets is trapped in an icy cabin and gets hypothermia

The Murder in the Family - strange multi decade case

The Bank in the Heist & The Clue in the Profiler - the first one little story about a bank heist & Sweets gets shot. Followed up by a far darker story in which Sweets is kidnapped and profiles the killer's murders live.

The Choice of a Family - Sweets attempts to help a young but instead gets beat up by the gang and then develops a drug addiction.

The Tierney in the Image - It appears Booth has tried to kill Sweets in order to keep him safe.

The Heat in the Mercury - Sweets is trapped and about to melt down.

**What's your favorite? Should there be more? What should happen to Sweets next? ;)**


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